Dump - a Plain Girl by L.T. Meade

Certainly my step-mother was a patient teacher, and certainly also there were few more awkward girls than I, Rachel Grant, on that afternoon. The stumbles I made, the way I sprawled my legs, the many falls I had, notwithstanding my step-mother's care! Both Alex and Charley laughed immoderately. It was Von Marlo, however, who in the end came to the rescue.

"Mrs Grant," he said, "you are dead-tired. I have been able to skate ever since I was able to walk. May I take Miss Dumps right round the pond? Will you trust her to me?"