"All right," he answered, dropping his hands and waiting for her to beat his face with the slender branch.
She looked at him for a few moments, and then she threw the sally rod into the hedge.
"What do you want?" she asked, and the tone of her voice was quieter.
The cow, finding that it was not being followed, cropped the grass in the hedge and as they stood there, facing each other, they could hear the soft munch-munch as it tore the grass from the ground.
"What do you want?" Sheila said again.
"I want to speak to you!..."
"Well, speak away!"
But he did not know what to say to her. He thought that perhaps if he were to explain, she would forgive, but now that the opportunity to explain was open to him, he did not know what to say.
"Are you turned dummy or what?" she asked, and the cruelty in her voice was deliberate.
"Sheila," he began, hesitatingly.