ggie observed, scooping a hole in
the petunia bed and burying the crusts in it. "Whatever's on her mind is
in that barn."

"Naturally," I observed. "While Tish is in it!"

Tish returned in a short time with one egg, which she placed on the
porch floor without a word. But as she made no effort to give Aggie the
house key, and as Aggie has never learned to swallow a raw egg,
although I have heard that they taste rather like oysters, and slip down
in much the same way, Aggie was obliged to continue hungry.

It is only just to record that Tish grew more companionable after
luncheon, and got into a large chestnut tree near the house by climbing
on top of the hen house. We had always before had the farmer's boy to do
the climbing into the upper branches, and I confess to a certain
nervousness, especially as Tish, when far above the ground, decided to
take off her dress skirt, which was her second best tailor-made, and
climb around in her petticoats.

She had to have both hands free to unhook the band, and she very nearly
overbalanced while stepping out of it.

"Drat a woman's clothes, anyhow," she said. "If we had any sense we'd
wear trousers."

"I understand," I said, "that even trousers are not easy to get out of,
Tish."

"Don't be a fool, Lizzie," she said tartly. "If I had trousers on I
wouldn't have to take them off. Catch it!"

However, the skirt did not fall clear, but caught on a branch far out,
and hung there. Tish broke off a small limb and poked at it from above,
and I found a paling from a fence and threw it up to dislodge it. But
it stuck tight, and the paling came down and struck Aggie on the head.
Had we only known it, this fortunate accident probably saved Aggie's
life, for she sat down suddenly on the ground, and said faintly that her
skull was fractured.

I was bending over Aggie when I heard a sharp crack from above. I looked
up, and Tish was lying full length on a limb, her arm out to reach for
the skirt and a most terrible expression on her face. There was another
crack, and our poor Tish came hurtling through the air, landing half in
Aggie's lap and half in the suitcase.

I was quite unable to speak, and owing, as I learned later, to Tish's
head catching her near the waist line, Aggie had no breath even to
scream.

There was a dreadful silence. Then Tish said, without moving:

"All my property is to go to Charlie Sands."

"Tish!" I cried, in an agony, and Aggie, who still could not speak