"Oh! he isn't?"
"No. He's never even seen a circus," the positive Agnes declared.
"He told you that, did he?" laughed Trix, airily.
"He said he had never been to see a circus in his life," Agnes repeated. "And Neale wouldn't lie."
"That's all you know about him, then," said Trix. "And I thought you Corner House girls were such friends with Neale O'Neil," and she walked off laughing again, refusing to explain her insinuations.
But the nickname of "circus boy" stuck to Neale O'Neil after that and he earnestly wished he had not volunteered to fix the flag rigging. Why it troubled him so, however, he did not explain to the Corner House girls.
CHAPTER XVIII
SNOWBOUND
Tess said, gloomily, as they gathered about the study table one evening not long after New Year's: