One day it was very stormy; the rain fell fast, the wind howled and whistled, and the children could not go out.
‘I fear that the summer is nearly over; but it is very early,’ said grandmamma, ‘to have such stormy weather. You have both been very good and attentive; will you like to hear something more about Russia and the cold winter there? But, Alice, take that tea-cloth to hem, and, Beatrice, bring your old dress, I will show you where to unpick it; and when you are both of you busy and quiet, I will begin.’
Grandmamma took her work, and began thus:—
‘It was in winter, when your dear mamma and aunt were both little children of about your age; the snow was very deep, and the weather had been very cold; and all the rivers were frozen so hard that every one could drive across them. In Russia there are a great many bogs, which in summer are so wet and soft that no one can go near them; but in winter, people drive on the frozen bogs when they are covered with snow.’
‘But why do not people drive along the roads in winter?’ asked Alice.
‘Because the roads are often filled with snow-drifts, and also because it is often much straighter and nearer to drive across the rivers and the bogs. But it is very difficult, when dark, to find the road on these wide and lonely moors or bogs, especially when it snows, and the fresh falling snow covers the track.’
‘Were you not afraid, grandmamma, to drive in those lonely places?’
‘At first I was, my Alice, but I soon became accustomed to it.’
‘Please, Alice, do not talk,’ said little Beatrice.
‘Well, my dear children, I was telling you what a cold winter we had; but though the weather was very cold and rather stormy, your dear mamma and aunt drove with me one afternoon in a large sledge drawn by two black horses, and my good old coachman drove us, and a man servant was with us. We drove to call on one of our neighbours, and, as is the custom in that part of the country, we stayed to tea there. The tea was late and the servants slow, for after I had given the order that our sledge should come round it was delayed; and I inquired several times, and grew impatient, for I did not like to keep my two little girls up so long, or drive home across the lonely moor so late at night, and we had six or seven miles to drive.