lutely nothing to you, dearest! I
didn't feel I could ever be very fond of her; she's not so original, nor
so jolly. No! I told Mother at once you were the only girl I had ever
really cared for, and I couldn't do with another bosom friend."

Though Mabel was the chief attraction for her at Birkwood, Aldred was
nevertheless glad to meet the rest of the Form, and to be in the midst
of the lively school life again.

When the unpacking had been successfully accomplished, and supper was
over, all the girls collected in a close group round the classroom fire,
to compare notes about the holidays.

"I've been to Switzerland," said Ursula. "We went to Les Avants for the
winter sports. It was simply glorious! I learnt to skate and to ski. I
felt most fearfully wobbly at first, but it was lovely when one got into
it; so was the tobogganing--one went skimming down slopes at a
tremendous pace. The ice was all illuminated at night, and we had fancy
dress carnivals; it was such fun!"

"Lucky you," said Phoebe, "to be in a place where there was real frost
and snow! We've been grumbling at the wet weather continually. I wonder
how long it is since we had an old-fashioned Christmas--the kind of
thing one reads about in Dickens, I mean, when Mr. Pickwick went
skating."

"People say 'a green Christmas makes a fat churchyard'."

"Well, I'm sure one gets more bad colds with pottering about in the rain
than one would with skating."

"I believe it's freezing now. I shouldn't be at all astonished if we had
quite a spell of hard weather."

"'As the days lengthen, the cold strengthens'," quoted Myfanwy, who was
fond of proverbs.

"I wish it would! We've never had any deep snow, or really severe frost,
since I came to the Grange."

Phoebe's prophecy concerning hard weather was literally fulfilled that
very night. The thermometer descended with a run, and by next morning
great, feathery flakes were falling silently, and turning the landscape
into a white world. The girls were very excited, and watched anxiously,
hoping that the snow would continue; and they rejoiced as each bush and
shrub in the garden became more and more smothered.

"The outlines of the walks are quite lost," said Mabel exultingly, "and
the tennis lawn looks like a huge iced plum cake."

"It's not much use for Brown to try to sweep a path, because it gets
covered up directly."

"Yes, but he has to go and feed the hens, you see. I wonder if Miss
Drummond will vent