"Where do you live?"
"At Mulberry Court, sir."
"I'm afraid I don't quite know where that is."
"Very likely not. It's a little tenement house off Minton Street. Maybe you never were there."
"I guess I never was," the man replied simply.
"It's a nice place to live," continued Carl, glowing with local pride. "Of course it isn't like this. We've no trees. But in winter trees aren't much good anyway; and in summer we can go to the parks."
To this philosophic observation his companion agreed with a nod and they sped on in silence.
The vast stretches of snow, so unsightly in the city's narrow thoroughfares, were on every hand white and sparkling, and each little shrub rearing its head out of the spangled fields was laden with ermine.
The boy drew a long breath, drinking in the crystal air.
"Gee!" he burst out impulsively. "This is great. I feel cheered up already."