"
"No; but--"
"Oh, he'll catch it from the governess!--I say, how many seams shall
you have to sew to-day, Hal?"
"I don't sew seams: I do as I please."
"Ha! Is that them coming out of church!"
"Oh, it is! it is!" cried John from his elevation. "Oh, help me
down, Hal!"
But Henry did not want Miss Fosbrook to find him partaking in gate-
climbing; and either that desire, or the general terror a bad
conscience, made him and the Grevilles run helter-skelter the
opposite way, leaving poor little John stuck on the top of the gate,
quite giddy at the thought of coming down alone, and almost as much
afraid of being there caught by Miss Fosbrook coming home from
church.
It was a false alarm after all, that the congregation were coming
out. John would have been glad if they had; for nothing could be
more miserable than sitting up there, his fingers tired of clutching
the spikes, his feet strained with reaching down to the bar, his legs
chilled with the wind, his head almost giddy when he thought of
climbing down. He would have cried, could he have spared a hand to
rub his eyes with; he had a great mind to have roared for help,
especially when he heard feet upon the road; but these turned out to
belong to five little village boys, still smaller than himself, who,
when they saw the young gentleman on his perch, all stood still in a
row, with their mouths wide open, staring at him.
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