Contrary to prognostication, snow had
ceased falling, and, with the rising of the moon, the sky had
partially cleared, light fleeces of cloud drifting across the
silvery disk. There was every sign that a frost was going to set in
later on. For these reasons the distant rising road was even more
distinct now between its high banks than it had been in the
declining daylight. Not a track or rut broke the virgin surface of
the white mantle that lay along it, all marks left by the lately
arrived travellers having been speedily obliterated by the flakes
falling at the time.
And now the landlord beheld by the light of the moon a sight very
similar to that he had seen by the light of day. Again a black spot
was advancing down the road that margined the coast. He was in a
moment or two enabled to perceive that the present vehicle moved
onward at a more headlong pace than the little carriage which had
preceded it; next, that it was a brougham drawn by two powerful
horses; next, that this carriage, like the former one, was bound for
the hotel-door. This desirable feature of resemblance caused the
landlord to once more withdraw the sand-bag and advance into the
porch.
An old gentleman was the first to alight. He was followed by a
young one, and both unhesitatingly came forward.
'Has a young lady, less than nineteen years of age, recently arrived
here in the company of a man some years her senior?' asked the old
gentleman, in haste.
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