the flakes, as though they never meant to stop, and
as one threw back one's head to look upward at the millions of tiny
feathers falling so gently, one seemed to float upward upon fairy wings
and sail away, away into the realms of the Snow Maiden.

It was hard to keep one's wits upon one's work that day, and many a stolen
glance was given to the fairy world beyond the windows of the
recitation-rooms. About five o'clock the weather cleared, the sun setting
in a glory of crimson and purple clouds. An hour later up came my lady
moon, to smile approval upon the enchanting scene and hint all sorts of
possibilities.

Lou Cornwall came flying into Toinette's room just after dinner to find it
well filled with seven or eight others.

"May I come, too?" she asked. "Oh, girls, if we don't have a sleigh-ride
to-morrow, I'll have a conniption fit certain as the world."

"Do you always have one when there is snow?" asked Toinette.

"Which, a sleigh-ride or a conniption fit?" laughed Lou. "You'd better
believe we have sleigh-rides."

"You'd better believe! I've been here five years, and we've never missed
one yet. Do you remember the night last winter, when we all went sleighing
and came home at eleven o'clock nearly frozen stiff, Bess? Whew! it was
cold. When we got back we found Miss Preston making chocolate for us.
There she was in her bedroom robe and slippers. She had gotten out of bed
to do it because she found out at the last minute that that fat old Mrs.
Schmidt had gone poking off to bed, and hadn't left a single thing for
us."

"I guess I _do_ remember, and didn't it taste good?" was the feeling
answer.

"You weren't here the year before," said Lou. "Sit still, my heart! Shall
I ever forget it?"

"What about it? Tell us!" cried the girls in a chorus.

"That was the first year Mrs. Schmidt was here, and, thank goodness, she
isn't here any longer, and she hadn't learned as much as she learned
afterwards. My goodness, wasn't she stingy? She thought one egg ought to
be enough for six girls, I believe. It took Miss Preston about a year to
get her to understand that we were not to be kept on half rations. Well,
that night we were expecting something extra fine. We got it!" and Lou
stopped to laugh at the recollection. "We rushed into the house, hungrier
than wolves, and ready to empty the pantry, and what do you think we
found? A lot of _after-dinner coffee cups_ of very weak cocoa, with _nary_
saucer to set them in, a