eed when I left home?"

John deemed the excuse unworthy of notice, and turned to Louise.

"What's he want this time?"

"Go skating with him," she replied after a moment's hesitation.

"Then ask you to have a treat in the warming house, and let you pay for
it 'cause he didn't bring enough money. I'll teach you to skate--tonight
if your mother'll let you. Silvey said the ice was fine yesterday, and
everything'll be peachy. Want to come?"

What maiden wouldn't? John glanced at his watch. The paper wagon was due
in five minutes.

"I've got to run," he said hastily. "See you tonight!" He left on the
dogtrot for the corner.

His school books eyed him reproachfully as he hunted for his skate
straps after supper. An arithmetic test impended, and he had a
composition to write. Nevertheless, he disregarded both tasks serenely
and called for his lady. With her skates swinging with his over one
shoulder, they started for the park.

"Ever been skating before?" he asked casually as he took hold of her arm
that she might pass a slippery bit of walk in safety.

Louise shook her head. "Once a mud puddle froze in front of the house
where I used to live, and I got a broom and tried. That's all."

Then, for an instant, John regretted the invitation. To teach an
absolute novice, no matter what the age, to skate with a passable degree
of security is no light task. But his hesitation vanished, ten minutes
later, when he fastened her skates on and helped her through the doorway
of the warming house. It is no unpleasant thing for a small boy's best
girl to cling to his arm as did his when they walked, oh so cautiously,
down the skate-chopped steps from the boat landing.

As they stepped out on the slippery ice, Louise made a last, despairing
grab for the step rail.

"You go on and skate, Johnny," she pleaded. "I'll just stay here for a
while."

[Illustration: _"Shooting the duck."_]

Nothing loath, he sped off in and out among the swiftly moving, ever
changing throng of people. In a moment he shot back to a less crowded
space near her, where he "shot the duck," balanced himself first on one
foot and then on the other, and finally came to an abrupt halt, leaving
a trail of ice shavings in his wake.

"My!" said Louise as he stood beside her, panting a little. "I wish I
could do those things."

He beamed. "They're easy. Hang on to my arm and I'll show you. Now, step
out with me. One-two, one-two, one-two."

Her ankles bent ov