She rose to her feet and moved restlessly about the room.
Presently she lifted the curtain and looked out.

There was a pause in the storm and a great mass of black clouds had just been driven past the face of the watery moon.

Even the wind seemed to be holding its breath, but so far as she could see, moors and hillsides were wrapped in one unending mantle of snow.

There was no visible sign of any human habitation, no sound from any of the birds or animals who were cowering in their shelters, not even a sheep hell or the barking of a dog to break the profound silence.

She dropped the curtain and turned back to her chair.