Flossie. "I've tried and tried, but I can't, and I don't want to stay here
all alone."

"Why Flossie Bobbsey! I'm with you!"

"I know, but Nan and Bert are away down at the other end, with Tommy Todd,
and Bert is going to buy hot chocolates. I know he is, 'cause he said so.
I don't want to miss them."

"Me neither! Wait and I'll see if I can't fix your skate, Flossie."

Freddie was small--he and Flossie were the smaller pair of Bobbsey
twins--but he was a sturdy little chap, and living out of doors, and
playing games with his older brother Bert had taught Freddie how to do
many things. He put Flossie's skate on her shoe, tightened the strap, and
then made it still tighter by putting some pieces of wood under the
leather loop.

"There!" he exclaimed, as he stood up, having been kneeling in the snow on
the edge of the lake. "I guess that will hold, Flossie. Now come on, and
we'll see how fast we can skate."

Together the brother and sister started off. This time Flossie's skate
seemed to be all right, needing neither paste nor a postage stamp to hold
it on, and in a little while the smaller twins had caught up to Bert and
Nan, their brother and sister, who, with a boy neighbor, named Tommy Todd,
had slowed up to wait for them.

"What kept you?" asked Nan. "Did you try to do some fancy skating,
Flossie?"