"Do you s'pose--we could?"

"I don't b'lieve it would hurt us one mite. Say, I tell you what we
can do: I'll take my sled, and I'll drag you a spell and then you can
drag me, and that will be riding half the way for both of us,
anyhow."

"So it will," said Comfort.

But Matilda looked doubtful again. "There's only one thing," she
said. "Mother ain't at home--she and Rosy went over to grandma's to
spend the day this morning--and I can't ask her. I don't see how I
can go without asking her, exactly."

Comfort thought miserably, "What would Matilda Stebbins say if she
knew I took that ring when my mother told me not to?"

"Well," said Matilda, brightening, "I don't know but it will do just
as well if I ask Imogen. Mother told me once that if there was
anything very important came up when she was away that I could ask
Imogen."

Imogen was Matilda's eldest sister. She was almost eighteen, and she
was going to a party that night, and was hurrying to finish a
beautiful crimson tibet dress to wear.

"Now don't you talk to me and hinder me one moment. I've everything I
can do to finish this dress to wear to the party," she said, when
Matilda and Comfort went into the sitting-room.