midnight
She is warm still , and her heart glows with happiness ; and she does not want anything else in all the world except the gray house and the girls she left behind , and the dogs by the fireside , and the old couple in the kitchen . But presently she discovers that , try as she will , and walk as hard as she may , she can not find the gray stone house . She is not frightened -- that is n't a bit her way ; but she knows at once what has happened , for she has heard of such things happening to others . `` It is midnight -- a bitterly cold midnight -- and she is lost in the snow ! She knows it . She does not hesitate for a single minute what to do , for the old man in the gray house has told her so many stories about other people who have been lost in the snow . He has told her how they fell asleep and died , and she knows quite well that she must not fall asleep .