"The mourners will please keep quiet," said the preacher sternly, "and if the widow and orphans wouldn't grin so, I'd be glad. You'd better be thinking about how you'd feel to be buried, and you are likely to be in this family," she continued with an offensive accent on this.
"Let's hurry up, I'm hot," said the chief mourner.
So they went down and buried the boxes, singing "Billy Boy" as a requiem. Bose watched their departure with interest, and dug up both boxes without delay.
Bobby and Nan were invited to stay to lunch, and they accepted with cheerful alacrity.
"I asked mother, for fear you'd ask me if I could stay, and she said yes indeed I could, and she'd be glad to have me," said Nan. Bobby yelled his request over the fence, and was told he could stay too.
They had strawberry jam, hot biscuit, fried chicken, and little frosted spice cakes, for which Mandy was famous.
"Just supposing your mother and mine had said no, about this luncheon," said Nan to Bobby. "I never could have gotten over the loss of these cakes."
"You've eaten four. I'm glad Mandy made a good many," said Beth calmly.
"Why Beth!" said her mother horrified.
"Yessum, she has," continued Beth. "I've passed them four times, and she took one every time. I've had five!" she concluded.