noon
Petsy between the window and the door had jumped on to his bed to get out of the draught of the morning wind . For the door was opened . That morning the coffin was carried down the long winding path above the deep-water reach , where Michael and Francis at Christmas had heard the sound of stealthy rowing , and on to the boat that awaited it to ferry it across to the church . There was high tide , and , as they passed over the estuary , the stillness of supreme noon bore to them the tolling of the bell . The mourners from the house followed , just three of them , Lord Ashbridge , Michael , and Aunt Barbara , for the rest were to assemble at the church . But of all that , one moment stood out for Michael above all others , when , as they entered the graveyard , someone whom he could not see said : `` I am the Resurrection and the Life , '' and he heard that his father , by whom he walked , suddenly caught his breath in a sob . All that day there persisted that sense of complete detachment from all but her whose body they had laid to rest on the windy hill overlooking the broad water .