Gwendolen may have been lazy, and she may have been greedy, but she had a soft heart, and the monkey had seen this.
"Oh, how dreadful!" she said. "But when did you learn to talk?"
The monkey shivered a little.
"Hush, they don't know," he replied. "I've lived with them so long that I've learned their language."
"But why don't you run away?" asked Gwendolen.
"How can I? They keep me on this string and beat me every night."
Gwendolen thought for a moment.
"Oh, Gwendolen," he said, "do save me if you can!"
From where she was kneeling Gwendolen could see the woman going up the steps to one of the houses. The man was watching her as usual. Gwendolen was half hidden from them by a bush.
"But there's my aunt," she said. "I don't know what my aunt would say."