"I'm going to have skates for Christmas," announced Freddie. "I hope the lake will be frozen over by then."
"I guess it will be," returned Bert. "It's getting colder every night."
The Bobbseys were back at school. For a time Nan and Bert, who were in a higher grade, did not like it so well, as they had a strange teacher, and lessons, too, were more difficult. But they were not children who gave up easily, and soon they were at the head of their class as usual. Their teacher, too, was much nicer than they had thought at first. They had considered her stern, but it was only her way, and soon wore off.
As for Freddie and Flossie, they had advanced but little except in reading, and this opened a new world to them.
"We'll soon be reading books," boasted Freddie, on his way home one day. "And I'm going to read all about firemen, soldiers and Indians."
"Oh, I'm not," said Flossie. "I'm going to read how to be a nurse, so I can take care of you when you're hurt."
