"It—it's you, Neale!" burst out Agnes, almost crying.
"What's the matter with me?" demanded the boy, in wonder.
"What you've been expecting has happened. Oh dear, Neale! whatever shall we do? Your Uncle Sorber's come for you."
The boy pulled in his team with a frightened jerk, and for a moment Agnes thought he was going to jump from the carriage. She laid a hand upon his arm.
"But we're not going to let him take you away, Neale! Oh, we won't! Ruth says we must hide you—somewhere. She's gone out the Old Ridge Road to meet you."
"She'll get lost out that way," said the boy, suddenly. "She's never been over that way, has she?"
"Never mind—Ruth," Agnes said. "It's you we're thinking of——"
"We'll drive around and get Ruth," Neale said, decisively, and he began to turn the horses.
"Oh, Neale!" groaned Agnes. "What an awful man your uncle must be. He says he used to put you in a cage full of lions——"
Neale O'Neil suddenly began to laugh. Agnes looked at him in surprise. For a moment—as she told Ruth afterward—she was afraid that the shock of what she had told him about Mr. Sorber's appearance, had "sort of turned his brain."