corked.'

With these encouraging words, he added:

'Well, what is it like?'

He listened attentively to my brief rehearsal of the structure of
parts whose names were still unknown to me: the fringed gill-arches and
movable operculum; the pores of the head, fleshy lips and lidless eyes;
the lateral line, the spinous fins and forked tail; the compressed and
arched body. When I had finished, he waited as if expecting more, and
then, with an air of disappointment:

'You have not looked very carefully; why,' he continued more
earnestly,' you haven't even seen one of the most conspicuous features
of the animal, which is as plainly before your eyes as the fish itself;
look again, look again!' and he left me to my misery.

I was piqued; I was mortified. Still more of that wretched fish! But
now I set myself to my task with a will, and discovered one new thing
after another, until I saw how just the Professor's criticism had been.
The afternoon passed quickly; and when, toward its close, the Professor
inquired:

'Do you see it yet?'

'No,' I replied, 'I am certain I do not, but I see how little I saw
before.'

'That is next best,' said he, earnestly, 'but I won't hear you now;