ened, but
all at once she became conscious that she had shaken herself together
and that she was saying, in no very gracious voice to be sure, but
still that she was saying, "Well, if you will have it your own way, you
will I suppose. There! I promise you I won't go on the sleigh-ride.
Now, does that satisfy you?"

Miss Blake took her hand from Nan's hair so hastily that the girl
lifted her head in astonishment. But the governess had neither the air
of being angry nor of being wounded as she feared. She simply rose and
said in quite a matter-of-fact tone as she turned toward the door:

"I demanded no promise of you, Nan, and I give you back your word.
Moreover, I entirely recall my injunction. Do as you please. If you
decide to go you will neither be disobeying my order nor breaking your
own promise. You are quite free and untrammeled, my dear."

Nan sprang to her feet.

"Huh!" she cried in an exasperated manner, "I know what you mean! You
mean I am quite free to go and--take the consequences. That's what you
mean."

Miss Blake paused but made no reply.

"But suppose there aren't any consequences?" pursued Nan, biting her
lip and scowling darkly from between her knitted brows.

Miss Blake turned her head.

"There are always consequences," she said over her shoulder in a voice
that was very low and serious.

CHAPTER XVI

THE SLEIGH-RIDE

The storm lasted for three days and then came a term of perfect
weather. Under foot the snow was packed hard and tight into a compact
mass over a bed of ice, and overhead the sun shone out from a cloudless
sky, while the air was so keen that it kept the mercury very close to
the zero mark even at midday.

"How is this for high?" demanded Ruth exultantly, as she and Nan met
toward the end of the week, the first time they had seen each other
since that stormy day when the subject of the sleigh-ride had first
been broached to Miss Blake.

"The weather, you mean? Oh, perfectly fine!" responded Nan.

Ruth drew a step nearer to her.

"It's all arranged for to-night. Not a soul has refused; every one
we've asked is going, and the sleigh is a regular old ark. We've got
everything our own way. Mike, from the stables, is as solid as a brick
wall. The horses are perfectly safe and we're going to have footstoves
to keep our toes warm. Mrs. Cole has telephoned down to Howe's to have
our supper ready, and we're going to have a simply stunning time."

Nan tri