Father Blossom did not really believe that offering a reward for the lost locket would bring it back. He thought likely that it was buried under the deep snow beyond the sight of every one. But he knew that Meg would feel better if she thought that everything possible was being done to recover the pretty trinket. After supper that night they wrote an advertisement, describing the locket, telling where it was lost, and offering ten dollars reward to the person who should bring it back. This advertisement was printed for three weeks in the Oak Hill paper, but though a number of people who read it did go out and scuffle about a bit in the snow on Wayne Place hill, partly in the hope of earning the reward, partly with a good-natured wish to help Meg, no one found the locket. The Blossom family were forced to conclude that it was gone forever. The Monday afternoon following the party Meg and Bobby came rushing home from school with great news. "Mother! Mother!" they shouted, flinging down lunch boxes and books in the hall and tearing upstairs like small cyclones. "Oh, Mother!" Mother Blossom, sewing in Aunt Polly's room, looked up at them and laughed. "Is there a fire?" she asked calmly. Bobby was almost out of breath, but he still had a bit left to tell the news. "They've swept off Blake's pond!" he gasped. "Everybody's going skating. The ice is great, Mother. Just like glass." "Where are our skates? Can we go?" chimed in Meg. "It isn't a bit cold, Mother." "Just cold enough to skate, I suppose," smiled Mother Blossom. "Well, of course you can't miss the first skating of the season. But I don't believe they want such little folks on the pond, dear. Some of the big boys will be likely to skate right over you." "We'll keep near the edge," promised Bobby. "Come on, Meg. Where are our skates?" Meg and Bobby had double runner skates, which are very good to learn on, and they had used them only once or twice because the winter before there had been practically no skating. Mother Blossom said the skates were in a dark green flannel bag, hanging in the hall closet, and the children tumbled downstairs to find them. You would have thought that they were afraid the ice would melt, if they didn't hurry. Presently Mother Blossom and Aunt Polly heard sounds of argument. "You can't go," cried Bobby. "You're too little." "You haven't any skates," said Meg crossly. "Mind your own business," shouted Twaddles, apparently making a rush at some one, for there was the sound of a scuffle and then a wail from Dot. Mother Blossom dropped her sewing and went out into the hall. "Children!" she cried warningly, leaning over the railing. "Oh, Mother!" Bobby's voice was filled with protest. "The twins want to go skating!" "Can't we, Mother?" said Dot eagerly, looking up at her mother imploringly. "Bobby and Meg always have all the fun. Can't we go?"