‘COME on, Vivian. It is high time we were going home; you know we promised mother that we would come off the ice at half-past four.’

‘Well, so we will; but it is only five-and-twenty past now, so we have plenty of time for one turn more. Come on, old stupid; you are always frightened of being late;’ and the younger of the speakers, a brown-eyed, mischievous-looking lad of about eleven, swung off with his three companions, leaving his brother standing watching them, a troubled look on his face.

He hated to make a fuss, and he did not want to leave the ice a moment sooner than he could help; but a promise is a promise, and he had given his word that they would be ready to leave the pond at the half-hour. It was later than they were generally allowed to stay; but it was Saturday afternoon, and there were signs of a thaw, so, as the ice might not last till Monday, their father had agreed to an extra half-hour on condition that they left the ice punctually and hurried home.

Vivian had given his word readily enough, and had meant to keep it; but now, as he flew round and round the pond, crying ‘Just one turn more,’ he seemed to have forgotten all about his promise.

Ronald sat down and took off his skates, then stepped on the path, and stood buckling them together.

‘Come on, Vivi,’ he entreated. ‘It is the half-hour now, and you know how anxious mother will be.’

‘All right,’ said Vivian a little sulkily, ‘I suppose I must; but it is an awful nuisance, when we may not have such lovely ice all winter again.’

‘I should think so,’ struck in Fergus Strangeways. ‘I am thankful that father doesn’t make us come in so soon. Why, the moon will be up in no time, and we will stay on quite late. Captain Laing and he are coming down before dinner, and Captain Laing promised to show us how to cut the “Figure Eight.”’

‘How jolly!’ said Ronald a little wistfully, while Vivian bent his head over his straps and pretended not to hear.

‘Couldn’t you stay, really?’ asked Charlie Strangeways, Fergus’s elder brother; ‘you could come in and have tea with us. I dare say Dr Armitage would know where you were; it is going to be lovely moonlight, and it isn’t as if we were to be alone all the time. I don’t suppose that he would have minded if he had known that the dad and Captain Laing were coming.’

‘Oh, do let us stay, Ronald! I’m sure father wouldn’t mind. You know he did say that he would have taken us out by moonlight himself if he had not been so busy,’ pleaded Vivian.

‘No, Charlie,’ said Ronald firmly. ‘It is very good of you to ask us, and it would have been splendid fun; but father didn’t know about your father and Captain Laing, and he would wonder where we were. Besides, we promised.—So hurry up, Vivian.’

‘What a stick you are, Ronald!’ said Fergus; ‘you can’t change a bit, even when circumstances change. Just because Dr Armitage said that you couldn’t be out alone here after dark, you spoil all the fun by going off, although it is very different now that father and Captain Laing are coming.’

‘Don’t be stupid, Fergus,’ put in Charlie good-naturedly. ‘If they promised, they must go. Besides, it is a long way over to Holmend; it is easy for us with our house close by.’

Charlie was fifteen, and a public school boy, so his word carried weight with it, and his brother was silent, while Vivian took up his skates more cheerfully.

‘We’ll see you in the beginning of the week,’ went on Charlie; ‘we are going to practise shooting on Tuesday if the frost doesn’t hold, we have got such jolly little pistols from Uncle Don; they carry quite a long way, and one can kill a bird with them. You must come over and bring yours; the Doctor is going to give you a pair for Christmas, isn’t he?’

Poor Vivian turned hot all over. If there was one thing in the world he was frightened of, it was being laughed at. As a rule, the boys were at liberty to choose their Christmas presents; and when, a fortnight before, Fergus had told him of his uncle’s intended present, he had instantly agreed to ask his father for the same, and great had been his disappointment and dismay when his request met with a grave refusal.

‘A pistol for your Christmas present! Not if I know it, my boy. What! Fergus and Vere and Charlie going to have them? Well, if I mistake not, they will be in my hands shortly. No, no; if their father likes to risk their lives, that is no reason why I should risk yours. Now, don’t look so glum; I know what I am talking about. If you had seen the case I saw over at Whitforth the other day: a lad older than either Ronald or you had got hold of one of these pistols, and it went off in his little brother’s face. I don’t want to harrow your feelings, but,’ and the Doctor’s voice dropped, and he spoke sadly, ‘that poor little chap will never be able to see again. No; I’ll give you anything you like, in reason, for your Christmas present, but a pistol is out of the question.’

At the time the explanation had been sufficient, but now Vivian’s eager little spirit felt very rebellious.

Fergus Strangeways was just a year older than he was, and surely he was as capable of being careful as Fergus. How Fergus and Vere would laugh at him if they knew the whole story! He flashed a warning look at Ronald, but Ronald did not seem to understand.

‘We may come out to watch,’ he said in his quiet voice; ‘but father won’t let us have pistols yet. He says we are too young. He has promised to give us proper guns when we are sixteen. He will not let us shoot before that.’

The pitying looks on his companions’ faces were quite lost on Ronald, who was only thinking of his promise to be home in good time; but they stung Vivian even more than the words that followed.

‘What a nuisance it must be to be so well looked after! You’ll grow into regular muffs if you don’t look out.’

‘I would give you a licking for that, just to judge if the symptoms are beginning, but I haven’t time to-night,’ said Ronald, with a laugh, conscious that none of the boys could stand up against him; and he walked off whistling through the woods, followed by Vivian, who was fuming with rage and injured pride.

‘What made you go and give me away like that?’ he asked presently. ‘You know there is a talk of our going to Aunt Dora’s next week. I know, anyhow, because mother had a letter, and if only you had held your tongue I would have said that very likely we would be away from home, and they need never have known anything about father not letting us have these pistols. Now Fergus will go all over the place laughing at us for a couple of babies;’ and he kicked at the fallen leaves viciously in his vexation.

‘As if I minded what Fergus Strangeways says!’ retorted Ronald scornfully; ‘why, he’s the veriest little ass going. He may get a pistol, but I bet you a sixpence that he daren’t let it off, in spite of all his bluster. Besides, I knew nothing about any invitation to Aunt Dora’s; and if I had, I wouldn’t have been such a sneak as to pretend that that was the reason that we couldn’t go to shoot with them. Of course it is a nuisance. I would have liked a pistol as well as you; but father would not have hindered us having one if he had not had good reasons, and now that he has promised us that lovely camera I’m sure we can’t grumble.’

‘That’s all very well for you,’ growled Vivian; ‘you always were a bit of a muff, with your music, and your photographs, and your collections. “The paragon” the other boys call you behind your back, for they say that you haven’t enough spirit in you to do anything wrong.’

‘They had better say it to my face then, and I’ll give them what for, and you too for listening to such rot,’ said Ronald hotly; and then he laughed at his own vehemence. ‘Don’t let us quarrel on Christmas Eve,’ he went on pleasantly; ‘I’ll race you across the meadow.’

They set off at a run, and by the time they had reached the garden gate, hot and breathless, they had almost forgotten the cause of their anger.

‘There is mother at the window, and Dorothy,’ cried Vivian, waving his cap. ‘Doesn’t a lit-up room look jolly and comfortable when one is outside? After all, I am rather glad that we didn’t stay any longer at the lake, for I am awfully hungry, and I expect there is a scrumptious tea in the schoolroom.’

As they went into the hall of the long, low red house, a little figure in white ran out to meet them.

‘Hurry, quick!’ she lisped, ‘we’s going to have tea wif muvver, an’ then we’s going to dec’rate. Black has brought in such a lot of green stuff, heaps an’ heaps, all p’ickles. Dorothy knows, ’cause she hurted her fingers.’

‘Dorothy was well warned, so it was her own fault,’ said a clear voice behind her, and Mrs Armitage appeared in the hall. Tall, slim, and graceful, with a wealth of rippling hair and a sweet pale face, it was no wonder that to the boys mother was the centre of their world.

‘Quickly, boys, run upstairs, get off those dirty boots, and get ready for tea. Father has been called out, and may not be home till quite late, so I will have it with you in the schoolroom, and afterwards we will try to get the hall decorated before he comes back. You know how he loves to see the greenery.’

After tea, Ellen the housemaid was pressed into the service, so the decorations went on merrily; and as Vivian stood on a ladder fastening up the wreaths of bright holly which his mother’s quick fingers wove so rapidly, while little Dorothy ran about, proud in the belief that she was helping every one, he thought quite pityingly of the Strangeways, who had no mother or little sister, although they might possess pistols and skate in the moonlight while he had to come home.