gly, and so are window-boxes." And Kay kicked the
window-box, and knocked two roses from the rose-bush.

"Kay dear, what is the matter?" asked Gerda.

The little boy did not answer, but broke off another rose, and then,
without saying good-by, stepped in at his own window, leaving Gerda
alone.

The next time the little girl brought out the picture-book, Kay tore the
leaves, and when the grandmother told them a story, he interrupted her
and made ugly faces. And he would tread on Gerda's toes and pull her
hair, and make faces at her, too.

"How cruel little Kay grows," said his friends; for he mocked the old
people and ill-treated those who were weak. And all through the blue
summer and the yellow autumn Kay teased little Gerda, or left her that
he might play with the bigger children in the town.

But it was when winter came, and the big white snowflakes once more fell
from a gray sky, that Gerda felt loneliest, for Kay now drew on his
thick gloves, slung his little sledge across his back, and marched off
alone. "I am going to ride in the square," he shouted in her ear as he
passed. But Gerda could not answer; she could only think of the winters
that had gone, when she and Kay always sat side by side in that same
little sledge. How happy they had been! Oh, why, why had he not taken
her with him?

Kay walked briskly to the square, and there he watched the bolder of the
boys tie their sledges to the farmers' carts. With what glee they felt
themselves being drawn over the snow-covered ground! When they reached
the town gates they would jump out, unfasten their sledges, and return
to the square to begin the fun all over again.

Kay was thinking how much he would like to tie his little sledge behind
a cart, when a big sledge, painted white, drove by. In it sat some one
muffled in a white fur coat and cap. Twice the sledge drove round the
square.

As it passed Kay the second time, he quickly fastened on his little
sledge behind, and in a moment found himself flying through the streets.
What fun! On and on through snowdrifts, bounding over ditches, rushing
down hills, faster and faster they flew.

Little Kay grew frightened. Twice he tried to unfasten the string that
tied his sledge to the other, but both times the white driver turned
round and nodded to him to sit still. At last they had driven through
the town gates. The snow fell so heavily that it blinded him. Now he
could not see where they were going, and Kay gr