Give my regards to Natalie.”

There was a quick handclasp, then Alan took the package of medicine and left.

“Remember you are to spend next Christmas with us!” the doctor called and then turned to his patient and closed the door.

Out of the city traffic at last Alan Monteith whirled away into a really white world, for the snow seemed to have been very industrious during his brief stay in the doctor’s office. The ground was already covered with a fine white blanket, and the flakes were settling down with a steady plunk, though still large and frolicsome.

The car dashed briskly on into it. Alan had the road mostly to himself and flew along into the whiteness with a kind of exultant thrill. It was nice to have it snowing. It seemed more like Christmas. How he used to love it when he was a kid!

His thoughts sped on ahead to the Christmas that was before him. So different from the Christmases of the past.

Would Demeter Cass be as alluring as he had found her the two or three times that he had met her? Would there be a sweeter human side to her, perhaps, that he had not learned yet, as well as the worldly side with which she had dazzled him?

He acknowledged to himself that she was his real reason for having accepted the invitation. He had wanted to come into closer contact with her and find out if her charm was real or only superficial. And perhaps he recognized also in a vague way that Demeter had been at the bottom of his invitation, for the people who were giving the house party were only casual acquaintances of his.

Thinking about Demeter Cass, recalling the exact shade of her strange fascinating eyes under those long golden lashes, eyes that were neither blue nor green nor gray but yet had lights of all those colors that she seemed to be able to turn on at will, he drove on through the whiteness and straight past the sign that would have directed him into the way his errand called him. For someone the night before had run into that sign and snapped off the pole that held it, and it was lying facedown on the ground entirely snowed over. There was not a sign of even the broken stump of the pole.

On he swept up the mountainside, and out a wide road that would have overlooked a valley if the air had not been so filled with whiteness that the valley was obliterated.

After he had gone up and up the gradual ascent, he noticed that there were very few dwellings now, only long stretches of woodland well blanketed with snow. The silence all around him was almost appalling. One could imagine he heard the snowflakes whispering. At first he had been engrossed with thoughts, but presently he began to grow uneasy. The silence was almost sinister. He had not been watching the mileage but it seemed a long time since he had seen a route sign. Surely he would soon come to a road branching off to the left as he had been directed! Was it possible he had missed it? His windshield wiper was working away but keeping only a small space of clear vision ahead.

When at last he emerged from the woods and looked across the world it seemed made of great mountains of snow, with an atmosphere of feathers everywhere. There was no sign of the sun coming to pierce the thickness of it and guide him on his way, and the road seemed too narrow to turn around. He must go on.

At last he came to a sign, a crude, weather beaten affair, capped and veiled in snow. He got out, wiped the snow off, and peering close managed to make out the name of a town of which he had never heard, announced to be fourteen miles away.

He stumbled back into his car to study his map, but could not find the town mentioned on the sign.

The road was narrow here, with an abrupt, sheer descent off to the left. He dared not try to turn around here or to back down the mountain in this weather. He must go on until he came to a crossroad or a service station. What a fool he had been not to take the doctor’s suggestion and get his chains before leaving the city! He had a strong conviction that he had missed his turn and was now going in the opposite direction from his destination. If the house party were his only goal it didn’t matter what time he got there, nor if he ever arrived perhaps, but that medicine must get to the patient as soon as possible and set the family at rest about it! Yet he must run no risks.

About two miles farther on, he came to a house with a gasoline pump in the front. There seemed to be nothing else in sight, but the snow was so dense it was impossible to tell whether there were more dwellings.

The desolate old man who came out to wait on him informed him that he had no chains to fit his car, no chains to fit any car, and only three gallons of gasoline left, with no likelihood of any more arriving today.

Alan took two of the gallons of gasoline, which was all the old man would sell him. He said someone might come along without any, and one gallon would take him to the next service pump.

The old man, however, could tell him where he was, and gave him very clear directions how to find his turn when he reached the foot of the mountain.

He had come forty miles out of his way! Forty miles to retrace before he could make any progress! The whole expedition took on a serious aspect. However, what was forty miles? He could at least turn around here.

So he turned and went slowly down the mountain, going cautiously, for the visibility was even worse than when he had come up. The snow had subdued itself into finer grains, but a wind had come up and the road was drifted in places so that the car wallowed and rocked as it crept on. Alan realized that he had something far more important to attend to than strangely changing green-gray eyes under golden lashes. This was a serious journey and a determined storm.