Ten minutes sufficed entirely to change the aspect of the view. The frozen
element could not adhere to the iron-like and perpendicular faces of the
mountains, but the glens, and ravines, and valleys became as white as the
peak of Velan. Still Pierre continued his silent and upward march, in a
way to keep alive a species of trembling hope among those who depended so
helplessly upon his intelligence and faith. They wished to believe that
the snow was merely one of those common occurrences that were to be
expected on the summits of the Alps at this late season of the year, and
which were no more than so many symptoms of the known rigor of the
approaching winter. The guide himself was evidently disposed to lose no
time in explanation, and as the secret excitement stole over all his
followers, he no longer had cause to complain of the tardiness of their
movements. Sigismund kept near his sister and Adelheid, having a care that
their mules did not lag; while the other males performed the same
necessary office for the beasts ridden by the female domestics. In this
manner passed the few sombre minutes which immediately preceded the
disappearance of day.
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