he twins were in bed, and fast
asleep. Mrs. Burton was still busy in her father's room, so there
was only Phil to look after things.

"Tell Nellie when she comes out of Father's room that Miles and I
have got some work to do outside which may take us an hour or
more," Katherine said to her youngest brother. "Meanwhile you must
just make yourself as useful as possible--clear away supper, wash
the cups and plates, take care of the fire, and look after things
generally. You will have a school holiday to-morrow, so no lessons
need be learned to-night. We shall have to do the store work while
Father is ill, so you and Miles will have to be satisfied with
night school with the men instead of having lessons in the day."

"Hooray!" chirruped Phil, who had no love of learning, but always
yearned for action. Then he asked anxiously: "Couldn't you stay in
and look after things to-night, while I go and help Miles with the
outside work?"

Katherine laughed and shook her head. "No, no, the outside work
would be too heavy for you to-night; you might even get your nose
frozen. But you must stay up until we come back, because Nellie
may need you to help her."

"I'll stay," replied the boy, but he manifested so much curiosity
about the nature of the outside work that had to be done that
Katherine had finally to command him to stay inside the house.

Neither she nor Miles wished anyone to know what they were going to
do: there were so many reasons for keeping their errand secret.
Mrs. Burton would have wept and wailed at the mere thought of such
a journey at night, while Phil simply could not keep a secret.

The dogs were tired and sleepy, very unwilling to be turned out and
harnessed again, but directly they were fairly out of their shed
the cold seemed to rouse them, and they set off at a great pace.
Katherine and Miles were riding in the empty sledge now, with their
snowshoes tucked in beside them. The snow-storm had spent itself;
the moon shone out of a cloudless sky, while myriads of stars lent
their aid to the illumination of the night. Even the cold was less
noticeable than in the afternoon, when the damp wind blew off the
water and the snow was falling so fast.

"It was worth while your being indiscreet for once, seeing that it
has brought us out on a night like this," Miles said, as he
crouched low in the sledge, holding on with both thickly mittened
hands, for Katherine was driving, and the dogs were going with