The Canterville Ghost

Four days after these curious incidents a funeral started from Canterville Chase at about eleven o'clock at night. The hearse was drawn by eight black horses, each of which carried on its head a great nodding ostrich-plume, and the leaden coffin was covered by a rich purple pall, on which was embroidered in gold the Canterville coat-of-arms.

By the side of the hearse and the coaches walked the servants with lighted torches, and the whole procession was wonderfully impressive. Lord Canterville was the chief mourner, having come up specially from Wales to attend the funeral, and sat in the first carriage along with little Virginia. Then came the United States Ambassador and his wife, then Washington and the three boys, and in the last carriage was Mrs. Umney. It was generally felt that, as she had been frightened by the ghost for more than fifty years of her life, she had a right to see the last of him.

A deep grave had been dug in the corner of the churchyard, just under the old yew-tree, and the service was read in the most impressive manner by the Rev. Augustus Dampier. When the ceremony was over, the servants, according to an old custom of the Canterville family, extinguished their torches, and, as the coffin was being lowered into the grave, Virginia stepped forward, and laid on it a large cross made of white and pink almond-blossoms.

Vocabulary:

Hearse: What a person is taken to be buried in.
Coffin: A box for burying people in.
Pall: The covering of a coffin.
Embroider: To sew a pattern into cloth.
Coat-of-arms: A pattern that identifies an aristocratic family.
Mourner: A person who is sad about something.
Rev: Reverend - a priest in the Church of England.
Custom: Something that has been done for a long time.