The air was raw and pointed, but not far below freezing; and the

flakes were large, damp, and adhesive. The whole city was sheeted

up. An army might have marched from end to end and not a footfall

given the alarm. If there were any belated birds in heaven, they

saw the island like a large white patch, and the bridges like slim

white spars, on the black ground of the river. High up overhead

the snow settled among the tracery of the cathedral towers. Many a

niche was drifted full; many a statue wore a long white bonnet on