urentian Hills, now glistening in a dazzling white mantle; at their
feet was the town, quaint and picturesque, its spires and monuments
reminders of its romantic past.

"There's the Ursuline convent, Judy," said Sally May, eagerly pointing
out the group of buildings. "Mr. Nairn told me the most interesting
thing about it--there's a lamp there that was lighted over two hundred
years ago by a girl, Marie de Repentigny--just imagine all the things
that have happened since that flame was lit."

"En avant--forward march," said Jack; "this is not Mr. Nairn's
personally conducted tour--we, I might observe parenthetically, intend
to ski this afternoon."

They bundled into the motor once more and were soon on the slopes a
little lower down where several flying figures could already be seen. It
was an ideal place for the thrilling sport--for there were a number of
high places where experts could take high jumps, and lower slopes in
plenty for the learners and the more timid, and great snowy fields
beyond where the whiteness was broken by the gay-coloured caps and
scarves of tobogganers and skaters.

Tom took Nancy down to one of the ponds to skate, while Tim and Jack
gave Judith and Sally May their first lesson.

Tim proved a splendid teacher and Judith made such progress in the
management of the long clumsy skis that at the end of an hour the boys
left Nancy in charge of their pupils, and went off to try some of the
higher jumps.

Judith found that she couldn't do as well without Tim's precept and
example, and neither she nor Sally May was sorry when Nancy declared
they could have just one more jump--they had no idea how stiff they
would be to-morrow.

Judith stood for a moment enjoying the scene. The sky was still blue,
but there were bands of colour in the west and the shadows of the pine
trees had lengthened considerably. She drew a deep breath of unconscious
enjoyment drinking in the wonderful air that tasted like clear spring
water, and then, making sure that both skis were quite straight, she
pushed off.

For a moment like a bird she felt herself flying through the air. How
glorious! Then quite suddenly came a sense of suffocation and thick
darkness. In some way the long curved wings on her feet had tripped her
and she had pitched head foremost into a deep snow-bank. Nancy, who saw
her disappear, halloed to the boys as she sped to the place where Judith
was buried, and they appeared with magical swiftness.

The