"Here you are, Philippa," Madame Perceval held the skis up. "Let's try these for size." Flip scrambled to her feet and Madame Perceval tried them against her. "How are they?" Flip asked eagerly. "Perfect. Couldn't be better. Put on your things and we'll go out and try them." As Flip snapped the skis onto her boots Madame Perceval said, "Now don't expect miracles, Philippa. The skis don't make as much difference as all that. Just go very slowly and do as I say." Madame Perceval was right. Flip was not able, all of a sudden, to ski like an angel because of the new skis. But she no longer fell quite so frequently, or had such a desperate struggle to get to her feet again. "Better, much better!" Madame Perceval cried as Flip slid down a tiny incline and stopped without falling. "Now turn around." Flip raised her leg and the long ski no longer tumbled her ignominiously onto the snow. She snapped her other leg around and there she was, all in one piece and erect. "Bravo!" Madame cried. "Now herring-bone up the little hill and come down again." Her tongue sticking out with eagerness, Flip did as Madame Perceval told her. "Good," the art teacher said. "Good, Philippa. More spring in your knees if you can. How about that bad knee? Does it bother you?" "Not much." Flip shook her head. "Oh, Madame, do you think I can learn?" "I know you can. Just don't stick your tongue out so far. You might bite it off in one of your tumbles." "Do you think Fräulein Hauser will take me back in the skiing class?" "Wait! Wait!" Paul cried, waving his ski sticks in wild excitement. "I have a much better idea." Madame laughed and ducked as one of the sticks went flying. "All right, Paul. Calm down and tell us this magnificent idea." But Flip could see that she was pleased because Paul sounded excited and happy, and the dark look had fled from his face. "Well, Flip was telling me about this ski meet you have at school and how everybody can go in for it and there's a prize for form, and a long race, and a short race, and a prize for the girl who's made most progress and all sorts of things. And I think it would be wonderful if we could teach Flip and she could enter the ski meet and win and surprise everybody." Madame Perceval started to laugh but then she looked at Flip and Paul and their eager excited faces, and she said slowly, "It would be rather a tall order teaching Flip just on week-ends. She needs lots of practice." "I could slip out in the morning before Call Over," Flip cried. "If I make my bed before breakfast and hurry breakfast I'd have almost an hour and nobody'd see me then." "And think how surprised that Fräulein Hauser would be," Paul cried. "And the girls would be so surprised," Flip shouted. "Erna and Jackie and all of them. Oh, Madame, do you think I _could_ learn? I'd work terribly hard. I'd practice and practice." "If you keep on improving the way you've improved this afternoon," Madame Perceval told her, "I'm sure you could."