Christmas with Grandma Elsie Part 15

"Not so very; the wind doesn't blow; but when you've been standing still a while your feet feel right cold. I hardly thought about it though, I was so taken up with watching the skating, till papa called to me that it was too cold for me to stand there, and I must come in."

"Papa's always taking care of his children," remarked Grace.

"Yes," a.s.sented Lulu, "he never seems to forget us at all; I most wish he would sometimes," she added laughing, "just once in a while when I feel like having my own way, you know.

"Wasn't he good to send for these for me?" she went on, holding up her new skates and regarding them with much satisfaction. "They're nice ones, and it'll be nice to have him teach me how to use them. I've heard of people getting hard falls learning how to skate, but I think I'll be pretty safe not to fall with papa to attend to me."

"I should think so," said Grace. "Oh papa and mamma have stopped and I do believe they're taking off their skates! at least papa's taking her's off for her, I think."

"Oh then they're coming in and we'll get our turn!"

"I don't want to try it."

"No, but you can walk down there, and then you're to have a ride on the ice; you know Uncle Harold said so."

"I don't know what he meant; and I don't know whether I want to try it either. Yes, papa and mamma are both coming back."

Violet had soon tired of the sport, and beside feared her baby was wanting her. She went on up to the nursery while the captain entered the parlor where his little girls were waiting for his coming.

"Waiting patiently, my darlings?" he said, with an affectionate smile.

"I know it is rather hard sometimes for little folks to wait. But you may bundle up now, and I will take you out to enjoy the sport with the rest. It will be a nice walk for you, Gracie, and when you get there you will have a pleasant time I think."

"How papa?"

"My little girl will see when she gets there," he said. "Ah, here is Agnes with your hood and coat. Now, while she puts them on you, I will see if Lulu's skates are quite right."

They proved to be a good fit and in few minutes the captain was on his way to the lakelet with a little girl clinging to each hand.

A pretty boat house stood at the water's edge--on the hither side, under the trees, and now close beside it, on the ice, the children spied a small, light sleigh well supplied with robes of wolf and bear skins.

"There, Gracie, how would you like to ride in that?" asked her father.

"It looks nice, but--how can it go?" she asked dubiously. "I don't see any horses papa."

"No, but you will find that it can move without."

Harold had seen them approaching, and now came gliding very rapidly towards them, on his skates.

"Ah Gracie, are you ready for your ride?" he asked, "Rosie Lacey and one or two of the other little ones are going to share it with you. Captain will you lift her in while I summon them?"

"Here we are, Cousin Harold," called a childish voice, and Rose Lacey came running up almost out of breath with haste and excitement, two other little girl cousins following at her heels; "here we are. Can you take us now?"

"Yes," he said, "I was just about to call you."

In another minute the four were in the sleigh with the robes well tucked around them. Then, Harold, taking hold of the back of the vehicle, gave it a vigorous shove away from the sh.o.r.e, and keeping a tight grip on it, propelled it quite rapidly around the lake.

It required a good deal of exertion, but Herbert and others came to his a.s.sistance and the sleigh made the circuit many times, its young occupants laughing, chatting and singing right merrily: the gayest of the gay.

Meanwhile the others enjoyed the skating, perhaps quite as much. The older ladies and the two old gentlemen seemed to have renewed their youth, and kept up the sport a good deal longer than they had intended in the beginning; while the younger ones, and especially the children, were full of mirth and jollity, challenging each other to trials of speed and skill, laughing good-naturedly at little mishaps, and exchanging jests and good humored banter.

And Cousin Ronald added to the fun by causing them to hear again and again sounds as of jingling sleighbells and prancing horses in their rear. So distinct and natural were these sounds that they could not help springing aside out of the track of the supposed steeds, and turning their heads to see how near they were.

Then shouts of laughter would follow from old and young of both s.e.xes, mingled with little shrieks, half of affright and half of amus.e.m.e.nt from the girls.

While all this was going on, Capt. Raymond was giving Lulu her first lesson in the use of skates, holding her hand in his, guarding her carefully from the danger of falling.

But for that she would have fallen several times, for it seemed almost impossible to keep her balance; however she gained skill and confidence; and at length asked to be allowed to try it for a little unaided.

He permitted her to do so, but kept very near to catch her in case she should slip or stagger.

She succeeded very well and after a time he ceased to watch her constantly, remaining near her, but taking his eyes off her now and then to see what others were doing; noting with fatherly pride in his son, how Max was emulating the older skaters, and returning a joyous look and smile given him by Gracie, as she swept past in the sleigh.

It presently stopped a few paces away, and he made a movement as if to go and lift her out, but at the sound of a thud on the ice behind him, turned quickly again to find Lulu down.

She had thrown out her hands in falling, and he felt a thrill of horror as he perceived that one of them lay directly in the path of a skater, Chester Dinsmore, who was moving with such velocity that he would not be able to check his speed in time to avoid running over her.

But even while he perceived her peril the captain had, with an almost lightning like movement, stooped over his child and dragged her backward. Barely in time; Chester's skate just grazed her fingers, cutting off the tip of her mitten. There were drops of blood on the ice, and for a moment her father thought her fingers were off.

"Oh my child, my darling!" he groaned, holding her close in his arms and taking the bleeding hand tenderly in his.

"I'm not hurt, papa; at least only a very little," she hastened to say, while the others crowded about them with agitated, anxious questioning.

"Is Lulu hurt?" "Did Chess run over her!" "Did the fall hurt her?"

"My fingers are bleeding a little, but they don't hurt very much," she answered. "I think his skate went over my mitten, and I suppose my fingers would have been cut off if papa hadn't jerked me back out of the way."

Chester had just joined the group. "I can never be sufficiently thankful for the escape," he said with a slight tremble in his tones, "I could never have forgiven myself if I had maimed that pretty hand; though it was utterly impossible for me to stop myself in time, at the headlong rate of speed with which I was moving."

"Your thankfulness can hardly equal her father's," the captain said with emotion almost too big for utterance, as he gently drew off the mitten, and bound up the wounded fingers with his handkerchief. "That will do till I get you to the house. Shall I carry you, daughter?"

"Oh no, papa, I'm quite able to walk," she answered in a very cheerful tone. "Please don't be so troubled; I'm sure I'm not much hurt."

"Allow me to take off your skates for you," Chester said, kneeling down on the ice at their feet, and beginning to undo the straps as he spoke.

"And I will gladly carry you up to the house, too, if you and your father are willing."

"Oh thank you, sir; but I'd really rather walk with papa to help me along."

The accident had sobered the party a good deal, and most of them--including the older people and Lulu's mates--went back to the house with her and her father.

Violet was quite startled and alarmed to see the child brought in with her hand bound up; but when the blood had been washed away the wounds were found to be little more than skin deep; the bleeding soon ceased, and some court-plaster was all that was needed to cover up the cuts.

There were plenty of offers of a.s.sistance, but the captain chose to do for her himself all that was required.

"There, my dear child, you have had a very narrow escape," he said when he had finished, drawing her into his arms and caressing her with great tenderness; "what a heartbreaking thing it would have been for us both had this little hand," taking it tenderly in his, "been robbed of its fingers; far worse to me than to have lost my own."

"And you have saved them for me, you dear father," she said, clinging about his neck and laying her cheek to his, her eyes full of tears, a slight tremble in her voice. "But they are yours, because I am," she added, laughing a little hysterically. "Oh I'm every bit yours; from the crown of my head to the soles of my feet."

"Yes, so you are; one of my choice treasures, my darling," he said with emotion; "and my heart is full of thankfulness to G.o.d our heavenly Father for enabling me to save you from being so sadly maimed."