The Trumpet-Major by Thomas Hardy

As the days went on, echoes of the life and bustle of the town reached / the ears of the quiet people in Overcombe hollow -- exciting and moving / those unimportant natives as a ground-swell moves the weeds in a cave. / Travelling-carriages of all kinds and colours climbed and descended the / road that led towards the seaside borough. Some contained those / personages of the King's suite who had not kept pace with him in his / journey from Windsor; others were the coaches of aristocracy, big and / little, whom news of the King's arrival drew thither for their own / pleasure: so that the highway, as seen from the hills about Overcombe, / appeared like an ant-walk -- a constant succession of dark spots creeping / along its surface at nearly uniform rates of progress, and all in one / direction.

The traffic and intelligence between camp and town passed in a measure / over the villagers' heads. It being summer time the miller was much / occupied with business, and the trumpet-major was too constantly engaged / in marching between the camp and Gloucester Lodge with the rest of the / dragoons to bring his friends any news for some days.

At last he sent a message that there was to be a review on the downs by / the King, and that it was fixed for the day following. This information / soon spread through the village and country round, and next morning the / whole population of Overcombe -- except two or three very old men and / women, a few babies and their nurses, a cripple, and Corporal / Tullidge -- ascended the slope with the crowds from afar, and awaited the / events of the day.

The miller wore his best coat on this occasion, which meant a good deal. / An Overcombe man in those days would have a best coat, and keep it as a / best coat half his life. The miller's had seen five and twenty summers / chiefly through the chinks of a clothes-box, and was not at all shabby as / yet, though getting singular. But that could not be helped; common coats / and best coats were distinct species, and never interchangeable. Living / so near the scene of the review he walked up the hill, accompanied by / Mrs. Garland and Anne as usual.

It was a clear day, with little wind stirring, and the view from the / downs, one of the most extensive in the county, was unclouded. The eye / of any observer who cared for such things swept over the wave-washed / town, and the bay beyond, and the Isle, with its pebble bank, lying on / the sea to the left of these, like a great crouching animal tethered to / the mainland. On the extreme east of the marine horizon, St. Aldhelm's / Head closed the scene, the sea to the southward of that point glaring / like a mirror under the sun. Inland could be seen Badbury Rings, where a / beacon had been recently erected; and nearer, Rainbarrow, on Egdon Heath, / where another stood: farther to the left Bulbarrow, where there was yet / another. Not far from this came Nettlecombe Tout; to the west, Dogberry / Hill, and Black'on near to the foreground, the beacon thereon being built / of furze faggots thatched with straw, and standing on the spot where the / monument now raises its head.

At nine o'clock the troops marched upon the ground -- some from the camps / in the vicinity, and some from quarters in the different towns round / about. The approaches to the down were blocked with carriages of all / descriptions, ages, and colours, and with pedestrians of every class. At / ten the royal personages were said to be drawing near, and soon after the / King, accompanied by the Dukes of Cambridge and Cumberland, and a couple / of generals, appeared on horseback, wearing a round hat turned up at the / side, with a cockade and military feather. (Sensation among the crowd.) / Then the Queen and three of the princesses entered the field in a great / coach drawn by six beautiful cream-coloured horses. Another coach, with / four horses of the same sort, brought the two remaining princesses. / (Confused acclamations, 'There's King Jarge! ' 'That's Queen Sharlett! ' / 'Princess 'Lizabeth! ' 'Princesses Sophiar and Meelyer! ' etc., from the / surrounding spectators.)

Anne and her party were fortunate enough to secure a position on the top / of one of the barrows which rose here and there on the down; and the / miller having gallantly constructed a little cairn of flints, he placed / the two women thereon, by which means they were enabled to see over the / heads, horses, and coaches of the multitudes below and around. At the / march-past the miller's eye, which had been wandering about for the / purpose, discovered his son in his place by the trumpeters, who had moved / forwards in two ranks, and were sounding the march.

'That's John! ' he cried to the widow. 'His trumpet-sling is of two / colours, d'ye see; and the others be plain.'

Mrs. Garland too saw him now, and enthusiastically admired him from her / hands upwards, and Anne silently did the same. But before the young / woman's eyes had quite left the trumpet-major they fell upon the figure / of Yeoman Festus riding with his troop, and keeping his face at a medium / between haughtiness and mere bravery. He certainly looked as soldierly / as any of his own corps, and felt more soldierly than half-a-dozen, as / anybody could see by observing him. Anne got behind the miller, in case / Festus should discover her, and, regardless of his monarch, rush upon her / in a rage with, 'Why the devil did you run away from me that night -- hey, / madam? ' But she resolved to think no more of him just now, and to stick / to Loveday, who was her mother's friend. In this she was helped by the / stirring tones which burst from the latter gentleman and his subordinates / from time to time.

'Well,' said the miller complacently, 'there's few of more consequence in / a regiment than a trumpeter. He's the chap that tells 'em what to do, / after all. Hey, Mrs. Garland?'

'So he is, miller,' said she.

'They could no more do without Jack and his men than they could without / generals.'