three o’clock
It was disappointing weather to multitudes , for it was the feast-day of one of the numerous saints whose names fill the calendar of the Roman Church , -- and a great religious procession had been organized to march from the market-place to the Cathedral , in which two or three hundred children and girls had been chosen to take part . The fickle bursts of sunshine which every now and again broke through the lowering sky , decided the priests to carry out their programme in spite of the threatening storm , in the hope that it would clear off completely with the afternoon . Accordingly , groups of little maidens , in white robes and veils , began to assemble with their flags and banners at the appointed hour round the old market cross , which , -- grey and crumbling at the summit , -- bent over the streets like a withered finger , crook 'd as it were , in feeble remonstrance at the passing of time , -- while glimpses of young faces beneath the snowy veils , and chatter of young voices , made brightness and music around its frowning and iron-bound base . Shortly before three o'clock the Cathedral bells began to chime , and crowds of people made their way towards the sacred edifice in the laughing , pushing , gesticulating fashion of southerners , to whom a special service at the Church is like a new comedy at the theatre , -- women with coloured kerchiefs knotted over their hair or across their bosoms -- men , more or less roughly clad , yet all paying compliment to the Saint 's feast-day by some extra smart touch in their attire , if it were only a pomegranate flower or orange-blossom stuck in their hats , or behind their ears . It was a mixed crowd , all of the working classes , who are proverbially called ` the common , ' as if those who work , are not a hundred times more noble than those who do nothing ! A few carriages , containing some wealthy ladies of the nobility , who , to atone for their social sins , were in the habit of contributing largely to the Church , passed every now and again through the crowd , but taken as a spectacle it was simply a ` popular ' show , in which the children of the people took part , and where the people themselves were evidently more amused than edified . While the bells were ringing the procession gradually formed ; -- a dozen or more priests leading , -- incense-bearers and acolytes walking next , -- and then the long train of little children and girls carrying their symbolic banners , following after .