Page:Nattie Nesmith (1870).pdf/57

 "I mean the roof," said Hattie.

"The outside roof of the house!" exclaimed the gentleman. "How could a child like her reach it? Such a steep roof as ours, too! She could hardly cling to it."

"I know that it is steep," said Hattie; "but there is a place on the back side, which comes down pretty low and joins on to the shed. An apple-tree stands so close that anybody could jump from it into the hollow of the two roofs; and it is a real cosy, shady place in summer time. I know that Nattie stays up there ever so much then, for I have seen her there reading story books and eating apples. She asked me to come up, two or three times, but I hadn't courage. Then she called me a coward, and pelted me with apple cores till I ran away."

Mr. Stone thought a moment.

"I remember having seen an apple-tree at the corner of the house and shed," he said, at length; "but I never should have thought of a little girl's