Birch supported the grave and collected manner that was thought becoming
in a male mourner, on such occasions, and to Katy was left the part of
exhibiting the tenderness of the softer sex. There are some people,
whose feelings are of such nature that they cannot weep unless it be in
proper company, and the spinster was a good deal addicted to this
congregational virtue. After casting her eyes around the small
assemblage, the housekeeper found the countenances of the few females,
who were present, fixed on her in solemn expectation, and the effect was
instantaneous; the maiden really wept, and she gained no inconsiderable
sympathy, and some reputation for a tender heart, from the spectators.
The muscles of the peddler's face were seen to move, and as the first
clod of earth fell on the tenement of his father, sending up that dull,
hollow sound that speaks so eloquently the mortality of man, his whole
frame was for an instant convulsed. He bent his body down, as if in
pain, his fingers worked while the hands hung lifeless by his side, and
there was an expression in his countenance that seemed to announce a
writhing of the soul; but it was not unresisted, and it was transient.
He stood erect, drew a long breath, and looked around him with an
elevated face, that even seemed to smile with a consciousness of having
obtained the mastery.
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