[Illustration: THE PRINCE ASKING EDDIE MARTIN ABOUT THE FAIR MARY
MATILD.]

When the winter came and the soft, fair snow lay ten or twelve feet
deep on the level on the forest and stream, on wold and woodland,
little Bessie once asked Mary Matilda if she would not take her out
for a walk. Now little Bessie was Mary Matilda's niece, and she was
such a sweet little girl that Mary Matilda could never say "no" to
anything she asked.

"Yes, Bessie," said Mary Matilda, "if you will bundle up nice and warm
I will take you out for a short walk of twenty or thirty miles."

So Bessie bundled up nice and warm. Then Mary Matilda went out on the
porch and launched her two snow-shoes and got into them and harnessed
them to her tiny feet.

"Where are you going?" asked Eddie Martin, pausing in his work and
leaning his saw against a slab of green maple.

"I am going to take Bessie out for a short walk," replied Mary
Matilda.

"Are you not afraid to go alone?" said Eddie Martin. "You know the
musquashes are very thick, and this spell of winter weather has made
them very hungry and ferocious."

"No, I am not afraid of the musquashes," replied Mary Matilda. But
she _was_ afraid of them: only she did not want to tell Eddie