"You were!" Sadie confirms cheerfully before turning her attention to their visitor. The way his serpentine tail stirs up the plankton makes it hard to ignore the fact that the fellow has a serpentine tail, and she lets out a little gasp of astonishment.

"Why, Frank," she says with conspiratorial enthusiasm (but without any attempt to go unheard by the third party), "I believe this gentleman is in fact some sort of mergentleman."