It was such a glorious day, not a bit too
hot, with a west wind sweeping unseen through the limpid sky; and the
whole landscape seeming animated, everywhere the sound of wheels, the
roads full of people all going one way. She simulated gravity, even
sadness, as they passed the dark pines near Hadleigh Wood; but in
truth she was quite undisturbed by her proximity to the fateful spot.
It seemed to her that with the murmur of the wheels, the movement of
the air, the progressive excitement of every minute, all the tragic or
gloomy element of life was rolling far away from her.
The scene presented at the Abbey struck her as magnificent. She had
never seen so many private carriages assembled together, and she would
not have guessed that the whole county of Hampshire contained so many
policemen. There were soldiers also--members of some volunteer or
yeomanry corps of which the deceased was honorary colonel. Their
brilliant uniforms shone out dazzlingly on a background of black
dresses and coats.
Naturally there was not space in the church for all this vast
concourse. The nobility, gentry, and other ticket-holders were
admitted first, and then there came an unmannerly rush which the
constables checked with difficulty.
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