"I believe it's freezing now. I shouldn't be at all astonished if we had quite a spell of hard weather."
"'As the days lengthen, the cold strengthens'," quoted Myfanwy, who was fond of proverbs.
"I wish it would! We've never had any deep snow, or really severe frost, since I came to the Grange."
Phœbe's prophecy concerning hard weather was literally fulfilled that very night. The thermometer descended with a run, and by next morning great, feathery flakes were falling silently, and turning the landscape into a white world. The girls were very excited, and watched anxiously, hoping that the snow would continue; and they rejoiced as each bush and shrub in the garden became more and more smothered.
"The outlines of the walks are quite lost," said Mabel exultingly, "and the tennis lawn looks like a huge iced plum cake."
"It's not much use for Brown to try to sweep a path, because it gets covered up directly."
"Yes, but he has to go and feed the hens, you see. I wonder if Miss Drummond will venture out to look at her Partridge Wyandottes? She's never missed going to them at four o'clock yet."
"I wish she'd let us go with her; I should love to tramp over the snow!"
"So should I; but she says we must none of us go farther than the shed. Brown has swept the courtyard at the back. If it's fine to-morrow, we'll have some fun."
After falling steadily for twenty-four hours, the snow stopped, and gave place to bright sunshine. Miss Drummond ordered dinner to be earlier than usual, and by half-past one the whole school was out upon the downs.