he roof stood an old oak tree, on the further side of a tall hedge.
Kenneth managed to carry a plank to the roof, where, after several
attempts, he succeeded in dropping one end into a crotch of the oak,
thus connecting the edge of the roof with the tree by means of the
narrow plank. After this, at first sight of the girls in his end of
the garden, he fled to the roof, ran across the improvised bridge,
"shinned" down the tree and, hidden by the hedge, made good his
escape.

The girls discovered this plan, and were wicked enough to surprise the
boy often and force him to cross the dizzy plank to the tree. Having
frightened him away they would laugh and stroll on, highly amused at
the evident fear they aroused in the only boy about the place.

Patricia, who was not in the other girls' secret, knew nothing of this
little comedy and really disturbed Kenneth least of the three. But he
seemed to avoid her as much as he did the others.

She sooned learned from Oscar that the boy loved to ride as well as
she did, and once or twice she met him on a lonely road perched on top
of big Sam. This led her to suspect she had thoughtlessly deprived him
of his regular mount. So one morning she said to the groom:

"Doesn't Kenneth usually ride Nora?"

"Yes, Miss," answered the man.

"Then I'd better take Sam this morning," she decided.

But the groom demurred.

"You won't like Sam, Miss," he said, "and he gets ugly at times and
acts bad. Master Kenneth won't use Nora today, I'm sure."

She hesitated.

"I think I'll ask him," said she, after a moment, and turned away into
the garden, anxious to have this plausible opportunity to speak to the
lonely boy.

CHAPTER XV.

PATSY MEETS WITH AN ACCIDENT.

"Get out of here!" shouted the boy, angrily, as Patsy appeared at the
foot of his stair.

"I won't!" she answered indignantly. "I've come to speak to you about
the mare, and you'll just treat me decently or I'll know the reason
why!"

But he didn't wait to hear this explanation. He saw her advancing up
the stairs, and fled in his usual hasty manner to the hall and up the
ladder to the roof.

Patsy stepped back into the garden, vexed at his flight, and the next
instant she saw him appear, upon the sloping roof and start to run
down the plank.

Even as she looked the boy slipped, fell headlong, and slid swiftly
downward. In a moment he was over the edge, clutching wildly at the
plank, which was a foot or more beyond