"Aren’t you coming down to see the races, Mrs. Kennaird?"
"Oh, I hope so; what time do they begin?"
"That’s what I want to know. If they don’t come down soon, I shall race by myself, and then they’ll have to give me a prize. Do come and help me. I’m in a dreadful minority."
"Then I must certainly come to your assistance. Is Mr. Clavering down yet?"
"I haven’t seen him; but, of course, we don’t want the Church until Sunday. There’s no one on the run at all but Benny, and he doesn’t count. Have you seen Benny? Then it’s a thing to dream about. He lives all by himself in the chalet up there—such a wonderful man, and always going about as though he were looking for his own soul. You’ll see him in a minute, for he’s just gone up—but I don’t suppose he’ll come down on the luge—I really can’t believe that Benny would be faithful to anything for more than five minutes. And, oh! here’s Mr. Kavanagh—I would like to introduce you, for he is such a dear!"
A tall, fair-haired man emerged from the hotel door at the moment, and Miss Bessie immediately took possession of him, to his apparent satisfaction, for they were gossiping like two old women when next the "little widow" saw them. Immediately afterwards, someone shouted "_Achtung!_" and a figure came flying down the ice-run which finishes at the very door of the hotel. Roughly clad in a grey sweater and check breeches, wearing no hat, and showing a thick crop of black hair, Mr. Benjamin Benson, for it was he, clung to his toboggan wildly, his teeth set and his eyes staring. When at last it flung him violently to the snow, he got up with the smile of a child, and looked at it for many minutes almost reproachfully. Then, patiently and laboriously he set out to climb the hill again to have another try.
When he had gone, the "little widow" dressed herself without further delay, and by a quarter to ten she also joined the throng before the hotel door, and was immediately recognised by Harry Clavering, who told her that the races were about to begin.
"Perhaps you would like to go up with me," he suggested a little nervously. "I am time-keeper to-day, and I can show you just how it is done. Everyone toboggans here, and you will like to begin as soon as possible. Shall we go now?"