The salt-marsh path

An original fiction passage set in the nineteenth century.

At first, Catherine could see the path running ahead of her, pale and straight between the shining pools. The village church stood behind her like a marker placed upon the wide blue sky. Each wooden post appeared exactly where she expected it, and she tapped every one with the end of her walking stick as she passed. The marsh seemed orderly then, divided into water, grass and firm ground.

The mist came softly across the pools. It covered Catherine’s boots, climbed to her waist and erased first the church, then the distant cottages, then the path behind her. The posts no longer stood in a line; they waited separately in the whiteness, dark and stooping. Catherine began to count them aloud. Nine. Ten. Eleven. The twelfth was gone. She stretched her stick before each step, but it met only grass bending over deep water. Somewhere behind her came a slow splash. Catherine stopped counting, and the mist continued to climb.

Analyse how the writer uses language and structure to make the marsh seem increasingly threatening. Support your answer with references to the passage.