mest of them brought forth peals
of laughter.

The heaven above them was densely black, and out of it flashed
innumerable stars like sparks white-hot and quivering with inward fire.
But the wind that swept across the sky was so cold that it made it seem
to contract and retreat and leave the shivering world an inconceivable
depth below.

Swathed and bundled as they were, the girls very soon began to feel the
deadly chill in the icy air.

"Nan's shivering like an ash-pan!" John cried out suddenly. "Has
anybody got an extra shawl or something they can lend her?"

"Hush!" returned the girl, trying to control her trembling, "it's
nothing; I'm all right."

"Pity she can't keep warm with John Gardiner beside her!" Mrs. Cole
suggested.

In the shadow Nan's teeth came together with a snap of disgust. She
saw now what it was in Mrs. Cole that offended Miss Blake. She had
never noticed it before, but it had been there, and she knew it. John
made no retort, while the others laughed and applauded.

"Here, Nan!" spoke up some one at the other end of the sleigh, "here's
a cigarette. Take it and warm yourself before its genial blaze," and
it was passed along from hand to hand, its ruddy point glinting out in
the shadow as it went along. When it came to Mary, instead of handing
it on at once, she held it a moment, then suddenly raised it to her
lips.

"Hey, there! Turn off the draught!" cried its owner merrily at sight
of the newly-glowing tip.

"Shut down the damper!" shouted some one else.

"I dare you to smoke it!" laughed Mrs. Cole.

Mary deliberately took a long puff.

Nan leaned back behind John and laid her gloved hand impulsively on
Mary's shoulder. "O Mary!" she protested in a whisper. "Don't.
Please! It'll make you sick."

But the girl was not to be thwarted. She shook off Nan's hand
impatiently.

"Mind your own business!" she replied, and took another puff.

On they swept through the icy air, across the snow-covered country,
amid the white night. The horn blew; the voices sang and shouted, and
finally the sleigh swung up before the hospitable road-house, where
every window was alight and their steaming supper awaited them.

It was harder to get out of the sleigh than it had been to get in it,
for joints that at first had been limber and strong were now stiff and
cramped from cold and disuse, and the girls made a sorry show, limping
and halting from the sleigh to the house. When Nan first gai