The Outdoor Girls in a Winter Camp | Page 3

But at that instant Grace, at a signal from Mollie, darted ahead, and
then the race began in earnest, for Amy, at a nod from the Little
Captain did likewise, and then Mollie and Betty, holding themselves in
readiness for the burst of speed that would take place at the finish,
came after.
"Now they're off!" cried Will. "A pound of chocolates to the winner!"
Three-quarters of the way to the bend Amy showed signs of fatigue.
Betty, noting it, called to her:
"I'll take it now."
"So will I!" agreed Mollie, and Grace, gliding to one side, allowed her
partner to take the lead.
"Now they're off!" cried Will again.
"Thank goodness, I'm warm, anyhow!" remarked Grace, a rosy glow
replacing the former paleness of her cheeks.
Leaving Amy and Grace to follow on more leisurely, the youths rushed
up to see the finish of the race. It was close, but by unanimous decision
they awarded the contest to Betty.
"Oh, I'm so glad you won, anyhow!" declared Mollie with fine spirit.
"You earned it, Betty dear, but I thought I was going to beat you, until
the very end."
"Yes, and you might have, only your left skate was loose," said Betty.
"I noticed it. Suppose we try it over?"
"Indeed not! My skate did loosen," spoke Mollie, "but I wasn't going to
say anything about it. You won fairly Betty, and I'm too exhausted to

try again. Now if the boys will----"
"Oh, we'll fulfill our part of the program!" declared Will promptly.
"Come on back to the village whenever you like, and order what you
wish. Or we can go on to the store of the poetical Mr. Lagg if you
prefer."
"It's too far," protested Grace, who, with Amy, had come up now.
"Besides he doesn't serve hot chocolate."
"Then thou shalt have thy hot chocolate, sister mine!" cried Will,
rubbing her ears.
"Oh, stop it!" she begged. "You hurt dreadfully, Will!"
"That's the way to make them warm," and he got back out of the way in
time to avoid having his own ears soundly boxed.
Slowly the young people skated back. There were a number of others
on the ice now, and soon our friends were in the midst of quite a
throng.
"Here come Alice Jallow and Kittie Rossmore," murmured Mollie. "I
hope they don't tag along after us."
"They're likely to," said Grace. "Though since that last little trouble
they haven't been as unpleasant as they used to be."
The boys circled away from Betty and her chums momentarily, and the
two girls referred to came skating past. They bowed rather coldly, and
then, an acquaintance of theirs joining them, they stopped to chat with
the latter. Mollie's skate again becoming loosened, she halted to adjust
it, her friends waiting for her. It was thus that they overheard what
Alice Jallow was saying to Margaret Black, the girl who had just come
up.
"Yes," Alice spoke, "she gives herself as many airs as if she was
somebody, instead of a nobody."

"A nobody?" repeated Margaret, wonderingly, "why----"
"Yes, indeed! She isn't even sure her name is Stonington, and as for Mr.
and Mrs. Stonington being her uncle and aunt as she says, why, I heard
the other day that there is doubt of that even. She and her chums think
themselves high and mighty, but we wouldn't go with anybody that
didn't know who they were!"
"But I thought there was something about a flood in the West----"
"Oh, yes, that's the story she gave out, but I, for one don't believe it.
She's a nobody, and that's all there is to it!"
Then Alice, leaving her bitter words echoing on the wintry air, which
carried them clearly to poor Amy, skated off. Perhaps Alice had not
meant that she should be overheard, but such was the case. She did not
take the trouble to look and see if the one to whom she referred was
within hearing distance.
At the first intimation of what was coming Betty had started off, as did
the other girls. Mollie seemed to have a notion of rushing over to Alice
and the others, but Grace, by a gesture, warned her not to.
Poor Amy's eyes filled with tears. She turned aside and Betty made as
though to skate after her, intending to offer words of sympathy, but this
time Mollie shook her head.
"Perhaps she had better be alone for a little while," she whispered.
"Sometimes that is the best way to pass it off. Oh, but that Alice Jallow
is a--cat!"
No one disagreed with Mollie this time.
Tears blinded the eyes of poor Amy. She skated on out of the crowd,
toward a part of the frozen river where there were no merry-makers.
She