"Thought I'd come back," said the little truant, peeping up at her
agitated friends' with some surprise; "thought I'd come back and get my
skipt!"

Then they exclaimed, in chorus,--

"Topknot _shall_ have her skipt! The blessed baby! The darling old Fly!"

And Dotty wound up by saying,--

"Why, you see, we thought you's dead!"

Flyaway, who had at first been very much astonished at the fuss made
over her, now looked deeply offended.

"Who said I's dead? What--a--drefful--lie!"

"O, nobody said so, Fly; only we thought p'rhaps you was; and _what_
would we do without you, you know?"

"Why, if I's dead," said Fly, untying her bonnet strings, "then the
funy-yal would come round and take me; that's all."

"We are most grateful to you," said Aunt Madge, turning to Mrs. Brooks,
"for bringing home this lost child; but do tell us where you found her."

Then Mrs. Brooks related all she knew of Fly's wanderings, the little
one putting in her own explanations.

"I didn' be lost," said she sharply. "I feel jus' like frettin', when