d Jerry bore
down upon them, the muscles of his jaw showing prominently. Without a
word he thrust his friend aside, caught at Sylvia's hands, and bore
her in a swooping flight to the other end of the pond, now deserted by
the other skaters.

As they sped along he bent over Sylvia fiercely and said in a low,
angry tone, "You don't like that bounder, do you? You _don't_!"

Sylvia was astonished at the heat of his suspicion. She had known that
Jerry was not notably acute, but it had seemed to her that her dislike
for his friend must be more than apparent to any one. They had reached
the edge of the ice now, and Sylvia's hands were still in Jerry's,
although they were not skating, but stood facing each other. A bush
of osier, frozen into the ice, lifted its red twigs near them. Sylvia
looked down at it, hesitating how to express her utter denial of any
liking for the hilarious young man. Jerry misunderstood her pause and
cried out: "Good God! Sylvia! Don't say you _do._"

Sylvia's heart gave a frightened leap. "Oh no--no--not a bit!" she
said hastily, looking longingly across the pond at the group around
the fire. Jerry caught his breath with a gasp and gripped her hands
hard. "It makes me crazy to see you look at another fellow," he said.
He forced her eyes to meet his. "Sylvia--you know--you know what I
mean."

Yes, Sylvia knew what he meant. Her very white face showed that. The
young man went on, pressing, masterful, confident, towering over her:
"It's idiotic to speak of it now, out here--with all these people
around--but it just _got_ me to see you with that--I wasn't sure how I
felt about you till I saw how I felt when you seemed so friendly
with him, when you got off the car together. Then I knew. It made me
crazy--I _wanted_ you!"

Sylvia had not been able once to look away from him since he began to
speak. Her mouth was a little open in her white face, her eyes fixed
with a painful intensity on his. He moistened his lips with his
tongue. "Sylvia--_it's all right_--isn't it?"

With no change of expression in her strained face, Sylvia nodded. As
suddenly and apparently as automatically she took a backward step.

The young man made a great stride towards her--there was a sound of
quick strokes on the ice and--"BOO!" shouted the hilarious young man,
bursting between them at railroad speed. He executed a marvelous
pirouette and returned instantly, calling out, "Less spooning in
the corners if you please--or if