AN ACCIDENT. ' 23

“Oh, I must have just one slide,” cried he,
snatching his hand from her grasp.

“You had better not; it may not be safe,”
she said in the same tone as before, knowing
well that one firm “ No, Harry, certainly not,”
would have settled the matter, and she could
have taken him away from the temptation.

Her brother set one foot on the ice, then, as
it seemed firm, the other. But still Nellie
objected in a mild way.

“Come back, dear. I wish you would.
We'll ask mother whether she thinks it has
been freezing long enough.”

Perhaps the boy did not even hear what she
said. He stepped further and further out, then
looked back and laughed.

“You come too, Sissy. We can have such a
jolly slide.”

The next instant there came a warning,
“erick, crack.” Nellie shrieked with horror,
for before she had time to know what was
coming, there was nothing visible of her
brother, and only a black jagged hole showed
where he had been standing.

, Nellie was only twelve, or she might have
had more presence of mind. As it was, she