Nor was a brow o’ercast. Seen as they sate
Ranged round their ample hearth-stone in an hour
Of rest they were as gay, as far from guile,
As children; answering, and at once, to all
The gentler impulses, to pleasure, mirth;
Mingling at intervals with rational talk
Music; and gathering news from them that came,
As of some other world. But when the storm
Rose and the snow rolled on in ocean-waves,
When on his face the experienced traveler fell,