The Canterville Ghost

Four days after these strange events a funeral started from Canterville Chase at about eleven o'clock at night. The hearse was pulled by eight black horses, each of which carried on its head a great ostrich-feather, and the coffin was covered by a rich purple cloth, on which was embroidered in gold the Canterville coat-of-arms.

By the side of the hearse and the coaches the servants walked with lighted torches, and the whole procession was wonderfully impressive. Lord Canterville was there. He had come from Wales specially to attend the funeral, and he 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. Everyone felt that, as she had been frightened by the ghost for more than fifty years , she should be allowed to see what happened to him in the end.

A deep grave had been dug in the corner of the churchyard, just under the old yew-tree, and the ghost was buried in the most impressive manner by the Rev. Augustus Dampier. When the priest had finished, the servants put out their torches, because this was an old custom of the Canterville family. As the coffin was being lowered into the grave, Virginia stepped forward, and put a large cross made of white and pink almond-blossoms on it.

Vocabulary:

Funeral: The burying of a dead person
Hearse: What a person is taken to be buried in.
Coffin: A box for burying people in.
Embroider: To sew a pattern into cloth.
Coat-of-arms: A pattern that identifies an aristocratic family.
Impressive: Something to remember.
Attend: Be at.
Grave: The hole in the ground where dead people are put
Rev: Reverend - a priest in the Church of England.
Custom: Something that has been done for a long time.