same thing as what it once was. Say, your mount gets bounding this
way, that way;" and with his body and hands he indicated the rapid
lateral movements of a horse shying and plunging. "Well, it's only the
grip that can save you. You aren't going to keep in your saddle by
mere balance--and it's balance that old gentlemen rely on best part
of the time."

Mavis listened wonderingly and admiringly. When her husband spoke of
the dead man, his voice was grave, calm and kindly. No one on earth
could have detected that while the man lived, he had been regarded
with anything but affection. She thought of that epithet that people
so often echo--Death the Leveler. Could one hope that already,
although Will might not know it, might not be willing to know it,
death had taken from him all or nearly all of his anger and
resentment? If it was only just acting--the stubborn effort to keep up
appearances--it was marvelous. Then she sighed. She had remembered
that Will never did things by halves.

She felt almost gay, certainly quite light-hearted, when driving out
with him to the funeral. 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. Mavis and Dale were just inside
the door; and Mr. Silcox close by, whispering, and pointing out
several lords and ladies near the chancel