midnight
If only for his own protection he did not seek to make advances unless some kind of introduction paved the way . But for these two to skate together in the semi-darkness without speech , often of necessity brushing shoulders almost , was too absurd to think of . Accordingly he raised his cap and spoke . His actual words he seems unable to recall , nor what the girl said in reply , except that she answered him in accented English with some commonplace about doing figures at midnight on an empty rink . Quite natural it was , and right . She wore grey clothes of some kind , though not the customary long gloves or sweater , for indeed her hands were bare , and presently when he skated with her , he wondered with something like astonishment at their dry and icy coldness . And she was delicious to skate with -- supple , sure , and light , fast as a man yet with the freedom of a child , sinuous and steady at the same time .