The cold was so fierce, snow hissing past the lantern in white streaks, that they crowded together close under piled blankets, Magda and Vanessa to either side of Cholayna.

Time passed, the snow hissed down, and still those eyes held upon the mirror.

The wood burned merrily; and though all round it the snow hissed, and pools of slush crept under their feet, they warmed their hands gladly at the blaze.

The falling snow hissed.

As he raised himself on an elbow and switched on a light, he saw how snow hissed by a nighted window.

They sat and had coffee and talked, while the wind moaned in the caves and grainy snow tapped at the windows or hissed along the glass.

Rare animals sat grunting and screeching in their cages, wines and liqueurs poured like tawny waterfalls from dusky bottles, and the snow hissed where it fell into the flames of exotic oil lamps.

While the fire snapped and the snow hissed against the window glass, the three old women ruminated on the dilemma.

A horse-drawn sleigh waited just by the door and Jake handed her into it, deftly tucking a warm plaid rug round her legs as the driver set the sleigh in motion, The horses' bridles carried small bells that rang as they moved, snow hissing beneath the sleigh runners.