The next step in the regular order of funeral exercises was to pass decorously around a coffin, pause a minute, bend over it with a long last look at the white face therein; the next, to move out of the room and take places in the funeral procession.

Now that was out of the question; they were puzzled as to further proceedings.
Doctor Seth Prescott made the first move.

He arose, and his wife after him, with a soft rustle of her silken skirts.

They both went up to Ann Edwards, shook hands, and went out of the room.

After them Mrs.Squire Merritt, with Lucina in hand, did likewise; then everybody else, except the relatives and the minister and his daughter.
After the decorous exit of the others, the relatives sat stiffly around the room and waited.