Page:The Tsar's Window.djvu/64

 with an elderly man's manner, a bald head, a cynical expression, and a tendency to sneer at everything. He was a young fellow under thirty, with a sealskin cap, a hearty laugh on the smallest provocation, a twinkle in his eye, and a disposition to cut capers! I could hardly believe him to be the same man.

He gave me no peace until I also ventured on the ice, where I tottered about helplessly, grasping his arm as though I meant never to let go. While I was getting very warm over my clumsy efforts, Judith was calmly gliding about. As we neared a chair, I fell into it, and waved my companion away. "I must rest," I gasped. "Go and skate by yourself."

He smiled a little, cut a figure eight backwards, and shook his head.

"I don't want to skate by myself," he responded. "I prefer your company to my own."

"Very well. That being the case, you can push my chair about, for it is cold sitting still."

To confess the truth, I feared he was going to talk to me about Judith, and I began to find having so many hopeful passions poured into my ear a little tiresome. I consoled myself by thinking that Mr. Thurber could not be particularly confidential to the back of my head, and that my cousin's name would rest for that morning.

False hope! For a few minutes my cavalier kept silence, and as I glided swiftly and easily over the ice I began to feel quite exhilarated; but my spirits were soon dashed by a glimpse of a new arrival, who was