into their faces, but they could make nothing of it. The
brother and sister merely laughed at them, and defied them to do their
worst, even, in the joy of their hearts, going the length of saying to
several utter but beaming strangers, that it was "splendid Christmas
weather." And so it was,--to the young and strong. Not so, alas! to
the old and feeble.

It almost seemed as if Colonel Wind and Major Snow had taken offence at
this last sally, for about that time of the day they forsook their
father and left London--probably to visit the country. At all events,
the clouds cleared away, the sky became blue, and the sun shone out
gloriously--though without perceptibly diminishing the frost.

After spending another hour or two in paying visits, during which they
passed abruptly, more than once, from poverty-stricken scenes of
moderate mirth to abodes of sickness and desolation, Tom and Matilda, by
means of 'bus and cab, at last found themselves in the neighbourhood of
the Serpentine.

"What say you to a turn on the ice, Matty?"

"Charming," cried Matty.

Society on the Serpentine, when frozen over, is not very select, but the
brother and sister were not particular on that point just then. They
hired skates; they skimmed about over the well-swept surface; they
tripped over innumerable bits of stick or stone or orange-peel; they ran
into, or were run into by, various beings whose wrong-headedness induced
a preference for skating backwards. In short, they conducted themselves
as people usually do on skates, and returned home pretty well exhausted
and blooming.

That evening, after a family dinner, at which a number of young cousins
and other relatives were present, Tom and his sister left the festive
circle round the fire, and retired to a glass conservatory opening out
of the drawing-room. There was a sofa in it and there they found Ned
Westlake extended at full length. He rose at once and made room for
them.

"Well, Ned, how have you enjoyed yourself to-day?" asked Tom.

"Oh, splendidly! There was such a jolly party in Wharton's grounds--
most of them able to skate splendidly. The pond is so sheltered that
the wind scarcely affected us, and a staff of sweepers cleared away the
snow as fast as it fell. Afterwards, when it cleared up and the sun
shone through the trees, it was absolutely magnificent. It's the
jolliest day I've had on the ice for years, though I'm almost knocked up
by it. Jovially fatigued