yours. Don't stay out on the hill
longer than half-past eleven. Have you your sweater on, precious?"

"Yes'm," nodded Sunny Boy. "May I be excused, Mother? That's Nelson
whistling for me. I won't forget. Good-bye. I have to hurry." And
he kissed his family in great haste and ran out into the hall for his
overcoat and mittens and sled.

CHAPTER IV

ON COURT HILL

"Hello!" called Nelson Baker, as Sunny Boy came out on his front steps,
dragging his new sled with him. "Did you know it snowed in the night?
Can you go coasting?"

"Yes. And let's stop for Oliver," suggested Sunny Boy. "Oh, Nelson,
your mother is rapping on the window for you."

"Gee, I bet Ruth wants to go coasting," said Nelson crossly. "I never
wanted to do anything in my life, Ruth didn't want to, too. I think
girls are just horrid!"

"Nelson!" called Mrs. Baker, raising the window, "wait just a minute,
dear; Ruth wants to go coasting, too. She will be right out."

"I told you so!" groaned Nelson. "Now I can't have a hit of fun. Ruth
will cry because the sled goes too fast and she'll cry because her feet
are cold and she'll cry because she gets tired walking up the hill.
And then she will want to come home just when I am having a good time
and I'll have to bring her. I wish Mother would make her stay in the
house."

Before Sunny Boy could answer him, Ruth came out. She was a pretty
little girl, about four years old, and she wore a fur hat and a dark
red coat with a fur collar. Her muff was tied to a string which went
around her neck. She had her own sled, a little one.

"Hello, Sunny Boy," she said, smiling. "Santa Claus brought me a sled,
too."

"What do you want to go coasting for?" asked Nelson, not waiting for
Sunny Boy to answer. "Your feet will get cold."

"They won't, either!" cried Ruth. "Anyway, I'm going with you--Mother
said I could. So there!" and she stamped her foot in its shiny new
rubber.

"All right, come on then," said Nelson crossly. "What are you waiting
so long for? Sunny Boy and I could have a lot more fun if you stayed
at home."

Sunny Boy was so afraid Ruth was going to cry at this unkind speech
that he tried to think of something to say that would make her forget
it.

"You sit on your sled and Nelson and I will pull you," he told Ruth.
"You can hold my sled for me."

This pleased Ruth very much, and she sat down on her sled and tucked
her coat around her and stuck her fat, shor