The Corner House Girls at School | Page 4

window of the
ell room she shared with Ruth.
Never had peaches looked so tempting! The tree was a tall seedling,
and the upper branches hung their burden near the open window.
All the lower limbs had been stripped by Uncle Rufus. But the old man
could not reach these at the top of the tree.
"It will be a mean shame for them to get ripe and fall off," thought
Agnes. "I believe I can reach them."
Up she hopped and slipped into her bathrobe. Just enough cool air
entered the room to urge her to pull on her hose and slip her feet into
slippers.
The window was at the back of the big house, away from the Willow
Street side, and well protected from observation (so Agnes thought) by
the shrubbery.
Below the window was a narrow ledge which ran around the house
under the second story windows. It took the reckless girl but a moment
to get out upon this ledge. To tell the truth she had tried this caper

before--but never at such an early hour.
Clinging to the window frame, she leaned outward, and grasped with
her other hand a laden, limb. The peaches were right before her; but she
could not pluck them.
"Oh! if I only had a third hand," cried Agnes, aloud.
Then, recklessly determined to reach the fruit, she let go of the window
frame and stretched her hand for the nearest blushing peach. To her
horror she found her body swinging out from the side of the house!
Her weight bore against the limb, and pushed it farther and farther
away from the house-wall; Agnes' peril was plain and imminent.
Unable to seize the window frame again and draw herself back, she was
about to fall between the peach tree and the side of the house!
CHAPTER II
THE WHITE-HEADED BOY
"The Corner House Girls," as they had come to be known to Milton
folk, and as they are known to the readers of the first volume of this
series, had occupied the great mansion opposite the lower end of the
Parade Ground, since the spring before.
They had come from Bloomingsburg, where their father and mother
had died, leaving them without guardianship. But when Uncle Peter
Stower died and left most of his property to his four nieces, Mr.
Howbridge, the lawyer, had come for the Kenway sisters and
established them in the old Corner House.
Here they had spent the summer getting acquainted with Milton folk
(making themselves liked by most of the neighbors), and gradually
getting used to their changed circumstances.
For in Bloomingsburg the Kenways had lived among very poor people,
and were very poor themselves. Now they were very fortunately

conditioned, having a beautiful home, plenty of money to spend (under
the direction of Mr. Howbridge) and the opportunity of making many
friends.
With them, to the old mansion, had come Aunt Sarah Maltby. Really,
she was no relation at all to the Kenway girls, but she had lived with
them ever since they could remember.
In her youth Aunt Sarah had lived in the old Corner House, so this
seemed like home to her. Uncle Rufus had served the aforetime owner
of the place for many years, too; so he was at home here. And as for
Mrs. MacCall, she had come to help Ruth and her sisters soon after
their establishment in the old Corner House, and by this time had
grown to be indispensable.
This was the household, saving Sandyface, the cat, and her four
kittens--Spotty, Almira, Popocatepetl and Bungle. And now there was
the goat, Mr. Billy Bumps.
Ruth was an intellectual looking girl--so people said. She had little
color, and her black hair was "stringy"--which she hated! Now that she
was no longer obliged to consider the expenditure of each dollar so
carefully, the worried look about her big brown eyes, and the
compression of her lips, had relaxed. For two years Ruth had been the
head of the household and it had made her old before her time.
She was only a girl yet, however; her sixteenth birthday was not long
behind her. She liked fun and was glad of the release from much of her
former care. And when she laughed, her eyes were brilliant and her
mouth surprisingly sweet.
The smaller girls--Tess (nobody ever called her Theresa) and
Dorothy--were both pretty and lively. Dot was Ruth in miniature, a
little, fairy-like brunette. Tess, who was ten, had a very kind heart and
was tactful. She had some of Ruth's dignity and more of Agnes' good
looks.
The twelve year old--the fly-away--the irrepressible--what shall we say

about her? That she laughed easily, cried stormily, was always playing
pranks, rather tomboyish, affectionate--utterly thoughtless----
Well, there is Agnes, out of the bedroom