Then Mrs.Thornbury remarked that she was still in the habit of saying Queen instead of King in the National Anthem.

There was another pause.

Then Miss Allan observed reflectively that going to church abroad always made her feel as if she had been to a sailor's funeral.
There was then a very long pause, which threatened to be final, when, mercifully, a bird about the size of a magpie, but of a metallic blue colour, appeared on the section of the terrace that could be seen from where they sat.

Mrs.Thornbury was led to enquire whether we should like it if all our rooks were blue--"What do _you_ think, William ?" she asked, touching her husband on the knee.
"If all our rooks were blue," he said,--he raised his glasses; he actually placed them on his nose--"they would not live long in Wiltshire," he concluded; he dropped his glasses to his side again.

The three elderly people now gazed meditatively at the bird, which was so obliging as to stay in the middle of the view for a considerable space of time, thus making it unnecessary for them to speak again.