Up and down they darted, and away and back--and always in the direction he did not expect them to take.

He thought he heard them crackle, and he stood still to listen; but he could not be sure that it was not the snow sinking and _crisping_ beneath his feet.

All around him was still as a world too long frozen: in the heavens alone was there motion.

There this entrancing dance of colour and shape went on, wide beneath, and tapering up to the zenith! Truly there was revelry in heaven! One might have thought that a prodigal son had just got home, and that the music and the dancing had begun, of which only the far-off rhythmic shine could reach the human sense; for a dance in heaven might well show itself in colour to the eyes of men .-- Alec went on till the lights from the windows of the town began to throw shadows across the snow.

The street was empty.