But Kate did not offer to take it.

"Didn't you hear me?" said he. "I said, 'Shake hands.'"

"I heard you," said Kate.

"Well, why don't you do it, then?"

Kate did not answer, and the man repeated his question.

"Well, then, if I must tell you," said she; "in the first place, I don't
know you; and, then, I'd rather not shake hands with you, anyway,
because your hands are so dirty."

This might not have been very polite in Kate, but she was a
straightforward girl, and the man's hands were very dirty indeed,
although water was to be had in such abundance.

"What's your name?" said the man, with his face considerably redder than
before.

"Kate Loudon," said the girl.

"Oh, ho! Loudon, is it? Well, Kate Loudon, if my hand's too dirty to
shake, you'll find it isn't too dirty to box your ears."

Kate turned pale and shrank back against a tree. She gave a hurried
glance into the woods, and then she called out, as loudly as she could:
"_Harry_!"