snow falling from the white opaque sky, took for granted that the
downfall would continue and the ice upon the lake increase. Instead of
that, the snow stopped falling at twilight without apparent cause, and
night set in more mildly.

Darkness fell upon the place, as darkness can only fall upon solitudes,
with a lonesome dreariness that seemed to touch and press. Night is not
always dark, but with this night came darkness. There was no star nor
glimmer of light; the pine-clad hills ceased to have form; the water in
the lake was lost to all sense but that of hearing; and upon nearer
objects the thinly sprinkled snow bestowed no distinctness of outline,
but only a weird show of whitish shapes. The water gave forth fitful
sobs. At intervals there were sounds round the house, as of stealthy
feet, or of quick pattering feet, or of trailing garments--this was the
wind busy among the drifting leaves.

The two men, who had finished the coffin by the light of a lantern,
carried it into the house and set it up against the wall while they ate
their evening meal. Then they took it to a table in the next room to put
the dead man in it. The girl and the dog went with them. They had
cushioned the box with coarse sacking filled with fragrant pine
tassels, but the girl took a thickly quilted cloth from her own bed and
lined it more carefully. They did not hinder her.

"We've made it a bit too big," said Saul; "that'll stop the shaking."

The corpse, according to American custom, was dressed in its clothes--a
suit of light grey homespun, such as is to be bought everywhere from
French-Canadian weavers. When they had lifted the body and put it in the
box, they stopped involuntarily to look, before the girl laid a