It was moonlight, and as we passed the sleighs of the rest of the party, exchanging greetings, we grew very merry.

Ben, voluble and airy, enlivened us by his high spirits.
We were drinking mulled wine round the long pine dinner-table of the Swan, when Charles and Alice arrived.

There were about thirty in the room, which was lighted by tallow candles.

When he entered, it seemed as if the candles suddenly required snuffing, and we ceased to laugh.
All spoke to him with respect, but with an inflection of the voice which denoted that he was not one of us.

As he carelessly passed round the table all made a movement as he approached, scraping their chairs on the bare floor, moving their glass of mulled wine, or altering the position of their arms or legs.