when you were alive and well all the time. But I never quite believed it
after all. I said all along that you couldn't have been killed; didn't I,
mamma? and that monkeys always got out of scrapes somehow."

Mrs. Hargreaves smiled.

"I don't think you put it in that way exactly, Nelly; but I will grant
that between your fits of crying you used to assert over and over again
that you did not believe that they were killed. And now, my dear boy, tell
us how this seeming miracle has come about."

Then they sat down quietly, and Dick told the whole story; and Mrs.
Hargreaves warmly congratulated him on the manner in which they had
escaped, and upon the presence of mind they had shown. Then she in turn
told him what they had gone through and suffered. Edith burst into tears,
and left the room, and her mother presently went after her.

"Well, Nelly, I have seen a lot since I saw you, have I not?"

"Yes, you are a dear, brave boy, Dick," the girl said.

"Even though I am a monkey, eh?" Dick answered. "And did you really cry
when you thought I was dead?"

"Yes," the girl said demurely; "I always cry when I lose my pets. There
was the dearest puppy I ever had--"

Dick laughed quietly. "Who is the monkey now?" he asked.

"I am," she said frankly; "but you know I can't help teasing you, Dick."