“Me puttum skates on, Miss Debbiline?” he said inquiringly.
“Yes, Joe,” and she seated herself a little apart from the others.
“Here, Val,” said Judy mischievously, taking the seat that had just been vacated. “I’m very fidgety about my boots. If you don’t get them on right you’ll have to unlace them again.”
Joe had never done such a thing before as to put on a lady’s boots, and it was a great honor for Vivienne that he should offer to do so. If it had been the simple clasping of a pair of spring skates his task would have been more simple, but Vivienne, in common with many Canadian skaters, wore steel blades that were screwed to the soles of a pair of boots.
Joe took off the little slippers in which she had run down from the house, carefully fitted her boots, right and left, then proceeded to grapple with the long laces which he reflected would be sufficient to fasten on two pairs of moccasins. Carefully he drew the black strings in and out till his task was done, when he drew his hand over the smooth firm leather that fitted over the ankles so neatly, and had some kind of a conceit pass through his mind similar to that of the classic Mercury with winged heels.
Vivienne rose, thanked him, and walked over the planks down to the edge of the ice where Judy was waiting for her.
“Joe, Joe,” exclaimed the latter looking back at him, “bring some chairs out on the ice and get that one with runners. Mrs. Macartney will be here later on.”
“La voilà,” said Vivienne, as a loud, jovial voice was heard in the distance, and presently Captain Macartney and Patrick were lifting their caps to the two girls, while Mrs. Macartney roamed to and fro, looking apprehensively at the heaped-up ice floes, and the plank walk to which she was by no means inclined to trust herself.
“It’s like the man that ran away with Lord Ullin’s daughter,” she vociferated in her jolly way. “He couldn’t get across—that is, the father couldn’t—and he said, ‘My daughter, oh, my daughter.’”
Vivienne came swiftly back, and seized both her hands. “Dear Mrs. Macartney, I am so glad to see you.”