paused.

"Thank God," he cried aloud, for there he saw a little round yellow glow
in the cloudy white mist,--the Harmer Six, and Connie.

He shouted as he ran, that she might not be left in suspense a moment
longer than need be. And Connie with numbed fingers tugged the curtains
loose and leaned out in the yellow mist to watch him as he came.

We talk of the mountain peaks of life. And poets sing of the snowy crest
of life crises, where we look like angels and speak like gods, where we
live on the summit of ages. This moment should have been a summit, yet
when Prince ran down the hill, breathless, exultant, and nearly
exhausted, Connie, her face showing peaked and white in the yellow glare,
cried, "Hello, Prince, I knew you'd make it."

She held out a half-frozen hand and he took it in his.

"Car's busted," she said laconically. "Won't budge. I drained the water
out of the radiator."

"All right, we'll have to hoof it," he said cheerfully.

He relieved her of the heavier wraps, and they set out silently through
the snow, Prince still holding her hand.

"I am awfully glad to see you," she said once, in a polite little voice.

He smiled down upon her. "I am kind o' glad to see you, too, Connie."

After a while she said slowly, "I need wings. My feet are numb." And a
moment later, "I can not walk any farther."

"It is ten miles to a house," he told her gravely. "I couldn't carry you
so far. I'll take you a mile or so, and you will get rested."

"I am not tired, I am cold. And if you carry me I will be colder. You
just run along and tell Carol I am all right--"

"Run along! Why, you would freeze."

"Yes, that is what I mean."

"There is a railroad track half a mile over there. Can you make that?"

Connie looked at him pitifully. "I can not even lift my feet. I am
utterly stuck. I kept stepping along," she mumbled indistinctly, "and
saying, one more,--just one more,--one more,--but the foot would not come
up,--and I knew I was stuck."

Her voice trailed away, and she bundled against him and closed her eyes.

Prince gritted his teeth and took her in his arms. Connie was five feet
seven, and very solid. And Prince himself was nearly exhausted with the
day's exertion. Sometimes he staggered and fell to his knees, sometimes
he hardly knew if he was dragging Connie or pushing her, or if they were
both blown along by the wind. Always there was the choke in his throat,
the blur in his eyes,