In respectful silence we took the places assigned to us close round the tomb, but hidden from the sight of any one approaching.

I pitied the others, especially Arthur.
I had myself been apprenticed by my former visits to this watching horror, and yet I, who had up to an hour ago repudiated the proofs, felt my heart sink within me.

Never did tombs look so ghastly white.
Never did cypress, or yew, or juniper so seem the embodiment of funeral gloom.

Never did tree or grass wave or rustle so ominously.
Never did bough creak so mysteriously, and never did the far-away howling of dogs send such a woeful presage through the night.
There was a long spell of silence, big, aching, void, and then from the Professor a keen "S-s-s-s!" He pointed, and far down the avenue of yews we saw a white figure advance, a dim white figure, which held something dark at its breast.

The figure stopped, and at the moment a ray of moonlight fell upon the masses of driving clouds, and showed in startling prominence a dark-haired woman, dressed in the cerements of the grave.