It's worth nothing through this line that Beatrice has a very intimate relationship with nature. The description of her almost merging the with shrub and her dialogue thereafter works to imply that she is a part of the plant herself, and the following event of her unintentionally killing an animal that comes into contact with her demonstrates that she has been "poisoned" by said nature. This event is a necessary establishing point of Beatrice's character. I can gather that due to being associated her father, who, as established earlier in the story (Starting on “Methinks he is an awful man indeed to the following two paragraphs, in which the professor speaks negatively of Rappa) has been "poisoned" by her father (Who has experimented on her?) Methinks that the moral of this story is to not play "god" with nature, and to not try to change what has already BEEN changed...

This line gives away how Sylvia perceives the boy's whiste/ the hunter himself. Kinda a bit of foreshadowing to what sort of role he takes on later in the story despite his friendly demeanor.