Edith, weeping,
made truce with Sibyl and saw to it that the mourning garments were
beyond criticism. Roscoe was dazed, and he shirked, justifying
himself curiously by saying he "never had any experience in such
matters." So it was Bibbs, the shy outsider, who became, during
this dreadful little time, the master of the house; for as strange
a thing as that, sometimes, may be the result of a death. He met
the relatives from out of town at the station; he set the time for
the funeral and the time for meals; he selected the flowers and he
selected Jim's coffin; he did all the grim things and all the other
things. Jim had belonged to an order of Knights, who lengthened the
rites with a picturesque ceremony of their own, and at first Bibbs
wished to avoid this, but upon reflection he offered no objection--
he divined that the Knights and their service would be not precisely
a consolation, but a satisfaction to his father. So the Knights led
the procession, with their band playing a dirge part of the long way
to the cemetery; and then turned back, after forming in two lines,
plumed hats sympathetically in hand, to let the hearse and the
carriages pass between.
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