, and until they drew up at
the churchyard gate, she was wondering why the ships in the harbour had
dressed themselves in gay bunting. The flags were all half-masted, of
course; but she had not observed this, nor, if she had, would she have
known the meaning of it.

In the great family pew she found herself by Clem's side, listening to the
lesson, of which a few words and sentences somehow remained in her memory;
and again, as they trooped out, Clem's hand was in hers. But to the
ceremony she paid little attention. The grave had been dug hard by the
south-east corner of the churchyard, close by a hedge of thorn, on the
farther side of which the ground fell steeply to a narrow coombe.
The bright sun, sinking behind the battlements of the church tower,
flung their shadow so that a part cut across the parson's dazzling
surplice, while a part fell and continued the pattern on the hillside
across the valley. And while the parson recited high over the tower a
lark sang.

Someone asked her if she wished to look down on the coffin in its bed.
She shrank away, fearing for the moment that the trick of which she had
stood in dread for two days was to be played on her now at the last.

But the mysterious doings of her elders were not yet at an end, for no
sooner had they reached home again than she and Clem were hustled into the
parlour, to find Mr. Tulse seated at the head of the long table with a
paper in his hand, and Mr. Samuel in a chair by the empty fireplace with
Cousin Calvin beside him. Aunt Hannah disposed herself between the two
children with her back to a window, and Uncle Purchase, having closed the
door with extraordinary caution, dropped upon the edge of a chair and sat
as if ready to jump up at call and expel any intruder.

Mr. Tulse glanced around with that quiet, well-bred air of his which
seemed to take everything for granted. Having satisfied himself that all
were assembled, he cleared his throat and began to read. His manner and
intonation suggested family prayers; and Myra, not doubting that this must
be some kind of postscript to the burial service for the private
consolation of the family, let her mind wander. The word 'testament' in
the first sentence seemed to make this certain, and the sentence or two
that followed had a polysyllabic vagueness which by habit she connected
with the offices of religion. The strained look on Aunt Hannah's face
drew her attention away from Mr. Tulse and his recita