Michael Malone - Weebly

later, however, Mrs. Cecil Hedgerow (Pauline Moffat
Hedgerow—Dr. Scaper's own goddaughter, and
Polly's mother) had died, and three days after that Joe
MacDermott's mother in Madder had died, both with
the same symptoms as Vincent Canopy. Neither
woman had shopped at Marco's, neither had traveled
to New York, and neither had been in contact with Mr.
Canopy, who commuted to "the City" during the week
and undoubtedly would have wished he had not made
an exception to stay home for his twentieth wedding
anniversary. Yet these three people, among others who
recovered, had suddenly died of apparently the same
disease. Gossip said it was very peculiar. Then Gossip
forgot it.
Today Vincent's widow went to visit him. She took
with her a memorial bouquet and a sonnet whose final
couplet read: "Seven years, seven long and lonely years,
since, last we spoke, and oh, so pokey time has
passed." Vincent was sleeping with his Dixwell in-laws
in a sunny corner of the Old Town Burial Ground that
rose above the green behind Town Hall and the
Congregational Church.