They would screw up their cruel narrow eyes and turn away without replying.

As Hélène wandered through the house, drawn to it by its overwhelming sense of abandonment and sadness, Fred Reuss came up to her and pulled her hair. ‘Leave it be!’ He laughed. ‘It smells old, miserable and dead. Come with me, young lady.’ He pointed towards the icy road that went down a little incline on to a plain. ‘Let’s go!’

The Finnish sledges were steered by skaters who stood behind the chair in which the other person sat. But this was too slow for Hélène’s and Reuss’s liking; they both climbed on to the back and launched the sledge into the snow. It went rushing down the hill, faster and faster; the wind blew into their ears, burning them harshly.

‘Be careful, be careful!’ cried Fred and his joyous laughter rang out in the clear icy air. ‘Careful! The tree! The rock! We’re falling! We’re going to die! Hold on tight, Hélène. Stamp your foot against the ground. Like this. Again. Again! Faster … Oh, this is so wonderful.’

Gasping for breath, they slid silently along with the dizzying speed you feel in a dream, down the long hill, along the icy white path on to the plain. They kept on going until the sledge hit a tree stump and threw its passengers into the snow. Ten times, a hundred times, they started over again, never tiring, hauling the sledge up to the top, then sliding down the long, icy hill.

Hélène could feel the young man’s hot breath against her neck; the biting cold made tears run down her face but she couldn’t wipe them away: as they sped along, the wind dried them on her cheeks. They both shouted out with joy as they stamped on the frozen ground, shrieking like children, without even realising it. The little sledge shot forward, hurtling down the hill like an arrow.

‘Listen,’ Fred said after a while, ‘it’s not going fast enough. What we need is a real sledge.’

‘How can we get one?’ asked Hélène. ‘The last time we smashed it up and ever since the driver is careful to lock up the shed. But I saw one there in the barn …’

They ran back to the barn and took the most beautiful sledge they could find; it was lined in red, with a little row of bells hanging from its sides. They had some difficulty getting it going, but once it started picking up speed, nothing in the world could go as fast; the snow flew into their faces, into their panting, half-open mouths, blinding them, whipping their cheeks. Hélène couldn’t see a thing. The brilliant whiteness of the plain was dazzling beneath the sharp reddish winter sun that cast a scarlet glow on to the snow. Little by little, though, it grew paler, turned pink.

‘This is so thrilling,’ thought Hélène.

They stopped counting how many times they flew down the hill. Finally, after they were thrown into a ravine and barely made it out, their cheeks scratched by the icy pine needles, Reuss, who laughed until he cried, said, ‘We’re going to crack our heads open, that’s for sure! Let’s go back to the calm little Finnish sledge.’

‘Never! Rolling around in the snow is the best part.’

‘Ah, really? So that’s what you like the most?’ murmured Reuss. He pulled her towards him and held her tightly against him for a moment. He seemed to hesitate; she stood pressed against him, looking at him with her joyful eyes that had rediscovered all their innocence.

‘Well then, if you like rolling around in the snow,’ he said suddenly, ‘climb on to my shoulders.’

He grabbed her round the waist, helped her perch on his shoulders, then threw her into the deep snow two feet in front of him. She shouted with pleasure and fear; she plunged into the snow as if it were a feathered nest; snow ran down her neck through a gap in her sweater; it got inside her gloves, filled her mouth with the icy sweet taste of sorbet. Hélène’s heart pounded with happiness. She looked with anguish at the early dusk sweeping across the sky.

‘We’re not going home yet, are we? We can stay a while longer, can’t we?’ she begged. ‘It’s not dark yet …’

‘We do have to go home,’ said Fred with regret.

She stood up, shook herself off and they walked back up the road.