He went on--he went in--and there he saw Annie, leaning against the white wall, with her white face turned up to the frozen ceiling.

She might have been the frost-queen, the spirit that made the snow, and built the hut, and dwelt in it; for all the powers that vivify nature must be children.
The popular imagination seems to have caught this truth, for all the fairies and gnomes and goblins, yes, the great giants too, are only different sizes, shapes, and characters of children.

But I have wandered from Alec's thoughts into my own.

He knew it was Annie, and no strange creature of the elements.

And if he had not come, she might have slept on till her sleep was too deep for any voice of the world to rouse her.
It was, even then, with difficulty that he woke her.