After a few moments she heard a knock. She clenched her fists and held her breath but whoever it was did not go away, and the knock came again. If it's Miss Tulip I'll kick her, she thought in fury. Then Erna's voice came. "Flip." "What?" Flip said, sounding hard and forbidding. "Flip, it's just me. Erna." "Oh." "Did you--was it--was there bad news in your letter?" "No. It's all right." Flip's voice was stifled. "Well, look, Flip," Erna said. "I just meant ... Percy's taking Call Over this morning and you know how strict she is ... and the bell's about to ring...." Flip opened the door and came out. "Thanks, Erna." "Oh, that's all right," Erna said uncomfortably. "I'm sorry if it was bad news in your letter." "It's just that my father's sick in China and I can't be with him for the Christmas holidays," Flip started to explain in a controlled voice. Then she burst out, "and I have to spend the holidays with Eunice--she's a friend of my father's--and I don't like her and if she marries my father I'll--I'll want to kill her." "Ach, that's awful," Erna said. "I'm awful sorry, Flip. It certainly is awful." "Well--" Flip's voice trailed off; then she spoke briskly. "We'd better get down to Call Over." 6 The next day she told Paul about the letter and for the first time since she had received it she started to cry. Ariel, distressed at her unhappiness, jumped up at her, almost knocking her over, and licked excitedly at her face. "That Eunice," Paul said, frowning heavily and pushing Ariel away from Flip and sending him over to the hearth. Then he jumped up. "Put on your skis and go on out and start practicing," he commanded. "I'll be out in a minute." And he half-shoved Flip out the door. Flip went out obediently and put on her skis and started working on her turns. In just a few minutes Paul came flying out of the lodge, shouting, "Flip! Flip!" He rushed up, panting, and gasped, "My father says you may stay here with us for Christmas if your father says it's all right! And Aunt Colette is going to be with us because my mother can't come." His face was radiant with pleasure. Flip sat down in the snow, her feet going every which way. "And you can work on your skiing every day. And I'm sure Aunt Colette can take us up to Gstaad to ski, and to Caux too, so you'll be familiar with Gstaad and all the runs for the ski meet and maybe you will become such a good skier that we can do a double jump! Papa said he'd write your father right away this afternoon. Oh, Flip, it will be wonderful to have you here all the time instead of just on Sunday afternoons!" "Oh, Paul!" Flip cried and scrambled to her feet. "Oh, Paul! Next to being with father it's the most wonderful thing in the world. I know he'll let me!" "Well," Paul said, giving her a quick, shy hug. "What a relief. Come on. Let's get to work on your skiing." Flip had been skiing conscientiously for about an hour under Paul's tutelage when Madame Perceval came out and called them.