Oh , I shall go mad ! If the window were not so high I would jump out of it . But to break my legs or my neck would not mend the matter . ' `` The afternoon passed on . At sunset Ursula heard hoof-beats and ran to the window . Andrew Kinnear of The Springs was tying his horse at the door . He was a dashing young fellow , and a political crony of old Hugh . No doubt he would be at the dance that night . Oh , if she could get speech for but a moment with him ! `` When he had gone into the house , Ursula , turning impatiently from the window , tripped and almost fell over the big ball of homespun yarn her father had flung on the floor . For a moment she gazed at it resentfully -- then , with a gay little laugh , she pounced on it . The next moment she was at her table , writing a brief note to Kenneth MacNair . When it was written , Ursula unwound the gray ball to a considerable depth , pinned the note on it , and rewound the yarn over it . A gray ball , the color of the twilight , might escape observation , where a white missive fluttering down from an upper window would surely be seen by someone . Then she softly opened her window and waited . `` It was dusk when Andrew went away . Fortunately old Hugh did not come to the door with him . As Andrew untied his horse Ursula threw the ball with such good aim that it struck him , as she had meant it to do , squarely on the head . Andrew looked up at her window . She leaned out , put her finger warningly on her lips , pointed to the ball , and nodded .
Andrew , looking somewhat puzzled , picked up the ball , sprang XXXXX his saddle , and galloped off .
For as if into of on over that to with