are saying? Billie, you are telling Dicky-Dick something, I know by the way he puts his little head on one side, but, Dicky, whatever have you done with your tail? Mary, oh, Mary, come here!”
Our dear Mary came hopping to the room.
“Look at our Dicky-Dick,” said her mother. “Our little pet has lost his tail. What can this mean?”
Our Mary was puzzled. “No cat could get at him,” she said; “he is too smart to be caught. It must have been another bird.”
“Oh, why can’t we understand?” said Mrs. Martin intensely, and she stared hard at Billie. “Tell me, my dog, how did our Dicky lose his tail.”
Billie, put on her mettle, ran to the window, looked out at the trees and barked wildly.
Our Mary spoke quickly. “That is the way Billie acts when she chases the red squirrel in the Tyrells’ lodging house. He is the only creature in the neighborhood that she chases, so she knows as well as we do that he is very naughty.”
“Billie,” said Mrs. Martin earnestly, “did the red squirrel pull Dicky-Dick’s tail out?”
“Bow, wow, wow!” barked Billie, raising her forelegs from the ground as she spoke. “Oh, bow, wow, wow!”
Mrs. Martin looked very much disturbed. “Then that seals his doom. I have heard that he has done a great deal of damage to the woodwork in Mrs. Tyrell’s house. We will take measures to have him disposed of, if she is willing. Now, to come back to the monkey—by the way, where is she?”