Above him every bough had its weight of snow, and seen through the drifting veil the pillared Capitol looked remote as that building of which it was a copy.

He walked quickly, with a light and determined step, a handsome figure in a many-caped coat of bottle green, striding through the snow toward the cheer of home.

In his outer man, at least, the eighteen months since his marriage had wrought a change.

What was striking then was more striking now,--his ease and might of frame, the admirable poise of his head, and the force expressed in every feature, the air of power that was about him like an emanation.
The difference was that what had been rude strength was now strength polished and restrained.

The deeps might hide abrupt and violent things, but the surface had assumed a fine amenity.