After this little conversation with Captain Rexford about his relatives,
and when Sophia had received the other children from the hands of Eliza
and repaired with them to the house door, Trenholme also took leave, and
rose to accompany her as far as the gate.

Sophia shivered a little when she stepped out upon the narrow wooden
gallery in front of the door.

The Rexford house was not situated in the midst of the farm, but between
the main road that ran out of the village and the river that here lay
for some distance parallel with the road. On the next lot of land stood
an empty house in the centre of a large deserted garden; and on the
other side of the road, about a quarter of a mile off, stood the college
buildings, which were plainly to be seen over flat fields and low log
fences. Beyond the college grounds were woods and pastures, and beyond
again rose Chellaston Mountain. This view was what Sophia and Trenholme
looked upon as they stood on the verandah; and all that they saw--field,
road, roof, tree, and hill--was covered with sparkling snow. It was a
week since the snow came, and Sophia still shivered a little whenever
she looked at it.

"I am sorry to see you do not look upon this scene as if it rejoiced
your heart," he said. "When you know it better, you will, I hope, love
it as I do. It is a glorious climate, Miss Rexford; it is a glorious
country. The depressions and fears that grow up with one's life in the
Old World fall away from one in this wonderful air, with the stimulus of
a new world and a strong young nation all around. This snow is not cold;
it is warm. In this garden of yours it is just now acting as a blanket
for the germs of flowers that could not live through an English winter,