At about ten o’clock the first tiny snowflakes came loitering down and settled on Jill‘s arm. Ten minutes later they were falling quite thickly. In twenty minutes the ground was noticeably white. And by the end of half an hour a good steady snowstorm， which looked as if it meant to last all day， was driving in their faces so that they could hardly see.
In order to understand what followed， you must keep on remembering how little they could see. As they drew near the low hill which separated them from the place where the lighted windows had appeared， they had no general view of it at all. It was a question of seeing the next few paces ahead， and， even for that， you had to screw up your eyes. Needless to say， they were not talking.