Before dawn on Saturday, January 30, Ephraim wakes Martha gently and leads her from bed. Martha has slept poorly because of the wind, the falling snow, and the bitter cold pressing through the house, so Ephraim rouses her to show her what has happened overnight.

As Ephraim guides Martha through the dim house, Martha notices that he has already lit candles and built the fire while the rest of the household still sleeps. Barnabas lies on a pallet by the hearth beside the unchanged chessboard from the night before; although his eyes stay shut, Martha senses that he is not fully asleep and judges him a cautious, light sleeper.

At the door, Ephraim opens it to reveal an enormous snowdrift nearly reaching the lintel, with only a narrow strip of sky visible above it. Martha realizes the storm has buried the house in snow and compares it to the terrible snowfall they once saw in Oxford. Ephraim confirms that this is why he woke her, and the shared memory of that earlier storm gives the moment both intimacy and foreboding before he leads Martha back to bed.