`` They are dreadful pretty , but I do n't seem to care about em , thank you , '' replied the mourner . `` Have the rabbits , all of them , '' which was a handsome offer on Thorny 's part , for there were a dozen at least . `` They do n't love a fellow as a dog does ; all they care for is stuff to eat and dirt to burrow in . I 'm sick of rabbits . '' And well he might be , for he had had the charge of them ever since they came , and any boy who has ever kept bunnies knows what a care they are . `` So am I ! Guess we 'll have an auction and sell out . Would Jack be a comfort to you ? If he will , you may have him . I 'm so well now , I can walk , or ride anything , '' added Thorny , in a burst of generosity . `` Jack could n't be with me always , as Sanch was , and I could n't keep him if I had him . '' Ben tried to be grateful , but nothing short of Lita would have healed his wounded heart , and she was not Thorny 's to give , or he would probably have offered her to his afflicted friend . `` Well , no , you could n't take Jack to bed with you , or keep him up in your room , and I 'm afraid he Would never learn to do any thing clever . I do wish I had something you wanted , I 'd so love to give it to you . '' He spoke so heartily and was so kind that Ben looked up , feeling that he had given him one of the sweetest things in the world -- friendship ; he wanted to tell him so , but did not know how to do it , so caught up his hoe and fell to work , saying , in a tone Thorny understood better than words , -- `` You are real good to me-never mind , I wo n't worry about it ; only it seems extra hard coming so soon after the other -- '' He stopped there , and a bright drop fell on the bean leaves , to shine like dew till Ben saw clearly enough to bury it out of sight in a great flurry . `` By Jove ! I 'll find that dog , if he is out of the ground . Keep your spirits up , my lad , and we 'll have the dear old fellow back yet . '' With which cheering prophecy Thorny went off to rack his brains as to what could be done about the matter . Half an hour afterward , the sound of a hand-organ in the avenue roused him from the brown study into which he had fallen as he lay on the newly mown grass of the lawn .
Peeping over the wall , Thorny reconnoitred , and , finding the organ a good one , the man a pleasant-faced Italian , and the monkey a lively animal , he ordered them all in , as a delicate attention to XXXXX , for music and monkey together might suggest soothing memories of the past , and so be a comfort .
Ben Jack Jove Lita Sanch Thorny bunnies hand-organ hoe mourner