"Oh, Dick!" she said very softly; "and to think I could imagine you had done such a thing—you; and to think that you should let me think you had done such a thing—and all to shield that Imp? Oh, Dick! no wonder he is so fond of you. He never talks of any one but you—I grow quite jealous sometimes. But, Dick, how did you get into that boat?"
"By means of a tree with 'stickie-out' branches."
"Do you mean to say—"
"That, as I told you before, I dropped in, as it were."
"But supposing you had slipped?"
"But I didn't."
"And you can't swim a stroke!"
"Not that I know of."
"Oh, Dick! can you ever forgive me?"
"On three conditions."