TANGLEWOOD FIRESIDE
INTRODUCTORY TO
‘THE THREE GOLDEN APPLES’
The snowstorm lasted another day; but what became of it afterwards, I cannot possibly imagine. At any rate, it entirely cleared away during the night; and when the sun arose the next morning it shone brightly down on as bleak a tract of hill-country, here in Berkshire, as could be seen anywhere in the world. The frost-work had so covered the window-panes that it was hardly possible to get a glimpse at the scenery outside. But, while waiting for breakfast, the small populace of Tanglewood had scratched peep-holes with their fingernails, and saw with vast delight that–unless it were one or two bare patches on a precipitous hill-side, or the gray effect of the snow, intermingled with the black pine forest
103
