But she hesitated a moment before she did this. Maybe Neale was not there. Maybe he was still so angry that he would not see her if she went into Con’s little shop. She must cajole him.
Therefore she sent a tentative call over the back fence:
“Oh-ee! Oh-ee! Oh-ee!”
She waited half a minute and repeated it. But there was no answer.
“Oh, dear me!” thought Agnes. “Is he still huffy? Or isn’t he home?”
She ventured a third call, but to no avail. Agnes, however, had a determined spirit. She felt that Neale might help them in the emergency which had arisen, and she proposed to get his help in some fashion.
So she started to climb the fence. Just as she did so—spang! A snowball burst right beside her head. She was showered with snow and, screeching, let go her hold and fell back into the Corner House yard.
“Oh! oh! oh! Who was that?” sputtered Agnes.
She glanced around under the bare-limbed trees and tried to peer into the shadows cast by the hen house and Billy Bumps’ abode. Not a soul there, she was sure.
“Some boy going by on the street must have thrown it,” Agnes thought. “But how could he see me away in here?”