“We’ll keep near the edge,” promised Bobby.  “Come on, Meg.  Where are our skates?”

Meg and Bobby had double runner skates, which are very good to learn on, and they had used them only once or twice because the winter before there had been practically no skating.  Mother Blossom said the skates were in a dark green flannel bag, hanging in the hall closet, and the children tumbled downstairs to find them.  You would have thought that they were afraid the ice would melt, if they didn’t hurry.

Presently Mother Blossom and Aunt Polly heard sounds of argument.

“You can’t go,” cried Bobby.  “You’re too little.”

“You haven’t any skates,” said Meg crossly.

“Mind your own business,” shouted Twaddles, apparently making a rush at some one, for there was the sound of a scuffle and then a wail from Dot.

Mother Blossom dropped her sewing and went out into the hall.

“Children!” she cried warningly, leaning over the railing.

“Oh, Mother!” Bobby’s voice was filled with protest.  “The twins want to go skating!”

“Can’t we, Mother?” said Dot eagerly, looking up at her mother imploringly.  “Bobby and Meg always have all the fun.  Can’t we go?”

“They’re too little,” insisted Meg.  “They haven’t any skates, either.  And Dot will get her feet cold and want to come home right away.”

“Won’t either,” scolded Dot.  “I am too going!  Can’t I, Mother?”

“Well, suppose you go till four o’clock,” proposed Mother Blossom, who could always see both sides of a question.  “If Bobby and Meg do not get cold, they may stay till half-past four.  And you’ll have to promise to do as Bobby says, twinnies, and keep out of the path of older boys and girls.  You mustn’t spoil good fun for other people who really know how to skate.”

“I suppose you might as well tag along,” conceded Bobby rather ungraciously.  “Nobody let us go skating when we were only four years old, did they, Meg?”

“No, they didn’t,” agreed Meg.

“Next year we’re going to have skates,” announced Twaddles importantly.  “Daddy said so.”

Before they reached the pond, however, all ill feelings were forgotten, and the sight of the glassy oval, well-filled with skaters, completely restored the four little Blossoms to their usual good humor.

“Whee!” cried Dot, skipping with excitement.  “Look how smooth!  Let’s make a slide, Twaddles.”

Meg and Bobby sat comfortably down in a snowbank to put on their skates, and as they were working with the straps, Dave Saunders glided up.

“You kids want to keep out of the center of the pond,” he advised them, not unkindly.  “All the high school folks are out to-day, and when a string of them join hands the line goes almost across the pond.  If you once slip, you’re likely to be stepped on.”

Meg and Bobby promised to stay near the outside edges of the pond, and Dave skated off with long, even steps that carried him away from them swiftly.