Thus,
even in childhood, there was thrown around her the glamour of
position and reputed wealth--advantages which have their value
among the most democratic folk, although slight outward deference
may be paid to their possessors. It was the charming little face
itself, with its piquant smiles and still more piquant pouts,
which won Albert's boyish admiration. The fact that she was the
banker's daughter only fired his ambition to be and to do
something to make her proud of him.
Hobart Martine, another boy of the village, shared all his
schoolmate's admiration for pretty Nellie, as she was usually
called. He had been lame from birth, and could not skate. He could
only shiver on the bank or stamp around to keep himself warm,
while the athletic Al and the graceful little girl passed and
repassed, quite forgetting him. There was one thing he could do;
and this pleasure he waited for till often numb with cold. He
could draw the child on his sled to her home, which adjoined his
own.
When it came his turn to do this, and he limped patiently through
the snow, tugging at the rope, his heart grew warm as well as his
chilled body.
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