The funeral over, Milbanke walked back from Carrigmore alone. The servants who had followed their master to his resting-place in the oldgraveyard had remained in the village to enjoy the importance that the occasion lent them; young Asshlin had disappeared at the conclusion of the burial service; while the daughters and sister-in-law of the dead man -in accordance with the custom of the country - had remained secluded in their own rooms at Orristown, appearing neither at the breakfast nor the funeral. In a house of death the hours that succeed the burial are, if possible,even more melancholy than those that precede it. The sensations of awe and responsibility have been dispersed, but as yet it is impossible toresume the commonplace routine of life. As Milhanke passed through the gateway and walked up the drive, ploughed into new furrows by the longprocession of cars that had followed the coffin, he was deeply sensitive to this impression; and if fell upon him afresh with a chill of desolation as heentered the door, still standing open, and moved slowly across the desertedhall.