"You're some taller than my Charlie," she said, and added, "I hope you don't intend to eat them tudstools, do you? Charlie wouldn't a et one o' them kind fer a thousand dollars. He knew the reel kind that grows in the medders an' pasters."
Constance took one of Miss Carroway's hands and gave it a friendly squeeze.
"You are spoiling my lecture," she laughed, "and aiding Mamma in discrediting me before the world. I will tell you the truth about mushrooms. Not the whole truth, but an important one. All toadstools are mushrooms and all mushrooms are toadstools. A few kinds are poisonous--not many. Most of them are good to eat. The only difficulty lies in telling the poison ones."
Miss Carroway appeared interested, but incredulous. Constance continued.
"The sort your Charlie used to gather was the _Agaricus Campestris_, or meadow mushroom--one of the commonest and best. It has gills underneath--not pores, like this one. The gills are like little leaves and hold the spores, or seed as we might call it. The pores of this _Boletus_ do the same thing. You see they are bright yellow, while the top is purple-red. The stem is yellow, too. Now, watch!"
She broke the top of the _Boletus_ in two parts--the audience pressing closer to see. The flesh within was lemon color, but almost instantly, with exposure to the air, began to change, and was presently a dark blue. Murmurs of wonder ran through the group. They had not seen this marvel before.
"Bravo!" murmured Frank. "You are beginning to score."
"Many of the _Boleti_ do that," Constance resumed. "Some of them are very bad tasting, even when harmless. Some are poisonous. One of them, the _Satanus_, is regarded as deadly. I don't think this is one of them, but I shall not insist on Miss Carroway and the rest of you eating it."
Miss Carroway sent a startled glance at the lecturer and sweepingly included the assembled group.
"Eat it!" she exclaimed. "Eat that? Well, I sh'd think not! I wouldn't eat that, ner let any o' my folks eat it, fer no money!"
There was mirth among the audience. A young mountain climber in a moment of recklessness avowed his faith by declaring that upon Miss Deane's recommendation he would eat the whole assortment for two dollars.