A perfect June day, with the loch glittering in the sun, and the hills
beyond it softly outlined with the indistinctness that mountains usually
wear in summer, but with the soft summer coloring too, greenish-blue,
lilac, and silver-gray varying continually. In the woods behind, where
the leaves were already gloriously green, the wood-pigeons were cooing,
and the blackbirds and mavises singing, just as if it had not been
Sunday morning, or rather as if they knew it was Sunday, and were
straining their tiny throats to bless the Giver of sweet, peaceful,
cheerful Sabbath-days, and of all other good things, meant for man's
usage and delight.
At the portico of Cairnforth Castle, for the first time since the hearse
had stood there, stood a carriage--one of those large, roomy,
splendid family carriages which were in use many years ago. Looking at
it, no passerby could have the slightest doubt that it was my lord's
coach, and that my lord sat therein in solemn state, exacting and
receiving an amount of respect little short of veneration, such as, for
generations, the whole country-side had always paid to the Earls of
Cairnforth.
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