Chapter FourThe Funeral Service in the little Anglican Church of St. George was very quiet and moving.
There were no other mourners apart from Lucia and the Marquis, and her father’s coffin was carried in state in an ornate funeral gondola with its canopy of black and silver.
The Marquis understood how everything had been done so quickly when Mr. Johnson told him that the owner of the house in which the Beaumonts had rented the attic wanted the dead man removed as quickly as possible.
“The Italians think it unlucky to have a corpse lying for long, my Lord,” Mr. Johnson explained, “and I therefore agreed that by paying a great deal extra the funeral could take place today. Fortunately, coffins in this part of the world are ready for just such emergencies.”
The Marquis was not particular
