An even shadowless, motionless white sea filled the horizon.

On either side a vast wall of snow seemed to shut out the world like a shroud.

Only the green plateau before her, with its sloping meadows and fringe of pines and cottonwood, lay alone like a summer island in this frozen sea.
A sudden desire to view this phenomenon more closely, and to learn for herself the limits of this new tethered life, completely possessed her, and, accustomed to act upon her independent impulses, she seized a hooded waterproof cloak, and slipped out of the house unperceived.

The rain was falling steadily along the descending trail where she walked, but beyond, scarcely a mile across the chasm, the wintry distance began to confuse her brain with the inextricable swarming of snow.

Hurrying down with feverish excitement, she at last came in sight of the arching granite portals of their domain.