Had the sub-committee waited till the crack
of doom, it would have made no difference whatever to the general trend
of Mr. Keith's sententious irrelevancies.
Perhaps, if they had caught him in a better humour, he might have had
the decency to invite them to luncheon after the funeral.
Even this was problematical.
CHAPTER XXVII
The funeral was a roaring success. The display of ecclesiastics and
choristers was unusually fine. Torquemada had seen to that part of the
business. It was his duty henceforward to cherish the bereaved
representative of Nicaragua--a possible convert, at his hand, to the
true faith. The Clubmen, headed by the excellent Mr. Richards, wore
their gravest faces. Furthermore, in view of the lady's quasi-official
position, the authorities of the island were present in full numbers;
the Militia, too, looked superb in their picturesque uniforms. And so
large was the unofficial attendance, so deafening the music, so
brilliant the sunshine, so perfect the general arrangements that even
the deceased, captious as she was, could hardly (under other
circumstances) have avoided expressing her approval of the performance.
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