off on the following day, and the Squire invited all the boys who took
part in it, to come up to his house to a substantial tea, after the
fun was over.

How delighted Leslie was, for he was a first-rate skater, and he _did_
so want a new pair of skates!

But the Squire's skates were not to be won by him, for on the
following day as he and his cousins were on their way to the pond,
they came across the queer old woman whom they had met on the previous
day.

She was sitting on the ground, and seemed to be in great pain. The
boys stopped to ask what ailed her, and she told them that she had
slipped and twisted her foot, and was afraid that her ankle was
sprained, for she could not bear to put it to the ground.

[Illustration: FROM THE CHRISTMAS TREE.]

"You musn't sit here in the cold," said Leslie; "come, try and get up,
and I will help you home."

"Oh! Leslie," cried both his cousins, "don't go. You will be late for
the races, and lose your chance of the prize."

Poor Leslie! He turned first red, then white, and then said, in a
husky tone of voice--

"Never mind--you go on without me."