“Oh, thunder!” said Tad, with a sheepish grin. But he allowed Rodney to hitch his shoulders up, and Matty squirmed nearer, and Tad’s head went back with a sigh.
“I say, Kitty,” he said after a moment, during which the color began to creep back into his cheeks.
“What?”
“Thanks.”
“That’s all right,” answered Kitty gruffly. “It wasn’t anything.”
“Oh, Kitty!” said May.
“Yes, it’s all right now,” responded Tad gravely, “but there was a time when I thought it wasn’t going to be. I—I’m sorry I made such an ass of myself, fellows—and ladies. I hadn’t any business trying it. I’d never done any climbing before.”
“Yes, you certainly were an ass,” agreed Rodney severely. He as onlooker had perhaps felt the nervous strain more than Kitty himself, and was inclined to be a bit cross. “We told you not to do it.”
Matty gazed at him reproachfully, and May murmured, “Don’t, Rod!” But Tad smiled. “That’s so. I own up. You may kick me when I get up.”