The window had glass in it which was not at all clean, but a fragment of it was broken, and through this Caius looked, intending to see if there was any gate into the yard which he could reach from the path he was on.
Through the small room of deserted hen-roosts, through the door which was wide open on the other side, he saw the sunny space of the yard beyond.

All the fowls were gathered in an open place that had been shovelled between heaps of hard-packed snow.

There were the bright tufts of cocks' tails and the glossy backs of hens brown and yellow; there were white ducks, and ducks that were green and black, and great gray geese of slender make that were evidently descended from the wild goose of the region.

On the snow-heaps pigeons were standing--flitting and constantly alighting--with all the soft dove-colours in their dress.

In front of the large feathered party was a young woman who stood, basin in hand, scattering corn, now on one side, now on another, with fitful caprice.