Still Life

Gamache watches as Jane’s friends stand and talk about her during the Sunday memorial service in Three Pines. The service ends with a lively rendition of “What Do You Do with a Drunken Sailor?” led by Ruth, who later tells Gamache that she taught Jane the song so that Jane could teach it to her students as part of their musical education. After the service, those who attended enjoy a meal. With Wayne’s health improving, Nellie approaches Ben and offers to clean his house that week. To Clara, she mentions that the last time she cleaned was before Jane’s death.

Seeing Ruth for the first time since he recognized her as a favorite poet, Gamache approaches her, but she shies away from his praise. Clara overhears Gamache mention Jane’s notary in passing, then interrupts to say that she thought the notary who drafted Jane’s most recent will was a woman, not a man, as Gamache’s pronoun use implied. Surprised, Gamache asks Clara to contact that notary.

Soon after, approximately 20 women assemble in the village green for the planned ritual “of celebration and cleansing” (208), including Myrna, Ruth, and Clara, who brings Lucy. Gamache watches from a distance as the women waft fumes from burning sage throughout the village, then proceed to the woods.