matrimonial chances were never so bright as they were at Cecilia Gay’s funeral.

What the Stirlings and Edward Beck would have thought had they known the back of Valancy’s mind must be left to the imagination. Valancy was hating the funeral — hating the people who came to stare with curiosity at Cecilia’s marble-white face — hating the smugness — hating the dragging, melancholy singing — hating Mr. Bradly’s cautious platitudes. If she could have had her absurd way, there would have been no funeral at all. She would have covered Cissy over with flowers, shut her away from prying eyes, and buried her beside her nameless little baby in the grassy burying-ground under the pines of the “up back” church, with a bit of kindly prayer from the old Free Methodist minister.