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 hood collecting neighbors and packing them on to the sled. When enough neighbors had been collected they would drive to a place called Prospect Hill and coast.

Laughing and shouting, and with room for just one more, this gay party had stopped in front of the rectory in the frosty moonlight, and young Armitage had run up to the door and called out that he couldn't come in because he was covered with snow, but that they were all going coasting to Prospect Hill, and couldn't Miss Ruth be persuaded to come along too?

Edward now learned for the first time that his mother had always rather believed in coasting as a wholesome outlet for youthful spirits. As a girl she herself had been something of a coaster.

Edward learned also that to his mother a little snow tracked into the house now and then was more of a joke than a crime.

No matter how much Armitage protested, Mrs. Eaton succeeded in bringing him into the library to wait while Ruth ran upstairs and put on her snow clothes. She made him stand close to the fire, and laughed as the snow melted from his boots and made pools of water on the rug.

With the exception of Mr. Eaton, who was at the church, and John, who was somewhere at sea, the entire family was present and took an immense