Then came a week of wild, snowy weather, when the roads were heaped high, going out was an impossibility, and she had to stay at home.

Rose chafed desperately under the restraint, and grew so irritable that it was quite a risk to speak to her.

All her old high spirits were gone.

Her ceaseless flow of talk suddenly checked.

She wandered about the house aimlessly, purposelessly, listlessly, sighing wearily, and watching the flying snow and hopeless sky.