page_64 < previous page page_64 next page > Page 64 who has not come yet. One who is not yet invited. Missy weeps with the visitors. She moves about through the crowd and holds hands and pats shoulders and embraces the bereaved. Burke hears a man, Mannie Vicks, he is certain, speak softly with Missy, his voice breaking with sobs. Missy quotes Bible verses to the man, and he thanks her. Missy and Burke came to the wake with the members of Missy's Brotherhood. There are eight who wear the secret engraved star, including Missy and Burke. Missy told Burke that her heart was blessed, because just a month earlier, there had been a total of five Brothers and Sisters. However, she said also that her heart was troubled, because although she still retained the position of religious leader of Beacon Cove, many of the people had been sliding away from the truth and were continuing to slide. She could not sleep soundly until the mote of sin was washed from her neighbors and they were all part of the holy gathering. Soon, Missy quiets the mourners with her voice. "My friends, my family," she says, and the sobbing softens. The visitors turn from their conversations and look at her. Burke looks, too, happy that there are so many in the small room that the body is still hidden on the cot near the back wall. When first he entered the cabin, he had glimpsed prone legs beneath an ironed cotton skirt, and his heart had lurched. He had turned then and found the industrious spider at work. "My friends," Missy continues. A baby cries out, and is shushed by its mother. "Our sister Carter Vicks is on the threshold now of eternity with the Lord Jesus. Her faith will see her clearly to the other side. We are grieved at her leaving. We are happy for her tribulation what is gone like a moulting skin. She leaves a world what  < previous page page_64 next page >