On the morning of the third the sun came out and the wind blew.

There was a northern gale all day.

The new snow arose like a white spirit from its downfall, and was again all abroad in the air.

It moved across the fields in great diamond-glittering shafts; it crested itself over the brows of hills in flashing waves; it lengthened its sharp slants of white light from hour to hour against the windward sides of the fences and houses.
On the morning of the next day everything was still.

The snow lay transfixed in blue whirlpools around the trees; the fields were full of frozen eddies, and the hill-tops curled with white wave-crests which never broke.