Keating and a number of other Fourth Formers on Roup’s Hill, which was half a mile from the School, on the road to town.
It was a clear, cold morning; there was a hard crust on the snow all the way down the long slope to the alder-fringed creek; there were gleaming thank-you-ma’ams over which the toboggans leaped, and frozen pools over which they skimmed; the holiday spirit was in all the boys; they shouted as they flew down the hill, and from the bottom they raced eagerly up again. Off in the distance they could see the pond where other fellows were skating, and beyond that the rink, empty of skaters, shining with its fresh ice and waiting for the contest of the afternoon.
Charles had written to Edward that the St. John’s hockey team were coming over by the nine o’clock train to have luncheon with the St. Timothy’s team before the game; so, after half-past eleven, when the nine o’clock train was due to arrive, Edward abandoned his toboggan and sat on the stone wall, watching alternately the coasters and the road.
