“She was a pretty thing, too,” he thought; “I was fond of her. Perhaps Soames didn’t suit her⁠—I don’t know⁠—I can’t tell. We never had any trouble with our wives.” Women had changed—everything had changed! And now the Queen was dead⁠—well, there it was! A movement in the crowd brought him to a standstill at the window, his nose touching the pane and whitening from the chill of it. They had got her as far as Hyde Park Corner⁠—they were passing now! Why didn’t Emily come up here where she could see, instead of fussing about lunch. He missed her at that moment⁠—missed her! Through the bare branches of the plane-trees he could just see the procession, could see the hats coming off the people’s heads⁠—a lot of them would catch colds, he shouldn’t wonder! A voice behind him said:

“You’ve got a capital view here, James!”

“ There you are!” muttered James; “why didn’t you come before? You might have missed it!”