"'Cause I cut the rope an' let the boat go away with you an' you might have been drowned dead in the weir, an' I'm awfull glad Uncle Dick whipped me!"
"O-h-h!" exclaimed Lisbeth, and it was a very long-drawn "oh!" indeed.
"I don't know what made me do it," continued the Imp. "I 'specks it was my new knife--it was so nice an' sharp, you know."
"Well, it's all right now, my Imp," I said, fumbling for a match in a singularly clumsy manner. "If you ask me, I think we are all better friends than ever--or should be. I know I should be fonder of your Auntie Lisbeth even than before, and take greater care of her, if I were you. And--and now take her in to tea, my Imp, and--and see that she has plenty to eat," and, lifting my hat, I turned away. But Lisbeth was beside me, and her hand was on my arm before I had gone a yard.
"We are having tea in the same old place--under the trees. If you would care to--to--would you?"
"Yes, do--oh, do, Uncle Dick!" cried the Imp. "I'll go and tell Jane to set a place for you," and he bounded off.
"I didn't hit him very hard," I said, breaking a somewhat awkward silence; "but, you see, there are some things a gentleman cannot do. I think he understands now."
"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 anyone 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----"