Henry Sirois

Henry Sirois is Janey Patterson’s uncle and Charlotte Gibney’s brother, a conspicuously heavy man whose brief appearances at Elizabeth Wharton’s funeral place him among relatives confronting death, family obligation, and a crisis. He announces his opinions rather than softening them, but when danger becomes immediate his confident declarations turn into pleas for help.## Identity and Introduction Henry arrives at the Holiday Inn at eight o’clock, ahead of Charlotte Gibney and her daughter, Holly Gibney. The narrative introduces him physically and socially: he is fat, has a moist handshake, and is one of the relatives gathering after the death of Elizabeth Wharton, Janey’s mother. His entrance begins a contrast between the family members’ different ways of meeting the funeral and the grief surrounding it.

Charlotte arrives an hour later, with an overloaded bellman in tow and complaints about her flight, including its crying babies. Beside her, Holly is described as thin, quiet, and reluctant to meet Hodges’s eyes. Henry and Charlotte’s appearance thus places Janey’s extended family in the room, but their arrival does not make them the people who had been closest to Elizabeth during her final years.## The Funeral Dispute Charlotte announces that she wants to see Betty, apparently not yet understanding that the body has been taken to Soames Funeral Home. Janey explains the arrangements: Elizabeth will be cremated on Wednesday afternoon, following a viewing on Tuesday and a brief, nondenominational service that Wednesday morning. Henry responds that cremation is barbaric. His objection is emphatic, but Janey answers quietly that cremation is what her mother wanted.

The disagreement hints at possible family tensions without resolving them. Hodges considers whether Henry and Charlotte might demand written proof that Elizabeth chose cremation, but they hold their peace. Their silence leaves the question open, while the narration suggests that the millions Janey inherited might be on their minds. It also recalls the difference between relatives who were present and those who were not: Janey had cared for her mother at the end, as had Olivia, whom Charlotte refuses to name and instead refers to as the one with problems. Henry’s objection therefore lands in a context where arguments about funeral custom sit alongside less comfortable questions of care and absence.

At the viewing, Janey hurries down the aisle, looks briefly at her mother in the open coffin, and hurries back with trembling lips. She says that, whatever Henry may call cremation, the open-coffin viewing is the real pagan rite: Elizabeth looks to her like a stuffed exhibit, not her mother. The moment gives Henry’s earlier pronouncement a sharp counterpoint. He has judged the chosen method of disposition; Janey’s response is grounded in the immediate sight of the body and in her own experience of losing her mother.## Alarm at the Burning Car Later, as a car burns, Charlotte rushes around a corner with her hair flying, and Henry follows. He cries out for his sister to stop, saying he thinks he is having a heart attack. Charlotte does not pause: she grabs Holly by the elbow, turns her around, and pulls her into a fierce embrace, shouting at her not to look even as she looks herself.

Henry sits on the curb, hangs his head, and says he can hardly breathe and hopes he is not dying. His response echoes his earlier habit of announcing his feelings, but the circumstances have changed from an argument over funeral rites to a frightening emergency. The narrative does not confirm that he is having a heart attack; it records his fear and physical distress as he watches the burning car and Charlotte tries to shield Holly from it.## Family Role and Narrative Significance Henry’s role in these scenes is limited but pointed. At Elizabeth’s funeral, his blunt condemnation of cremation exposes the friction between his expressed preference and Janey’s knowledge of what her mother wanted. The possibility that he and Charlotte may be thinking about Janey’s inheritance remains speculation within Hodges’s perspective, not a stated motive or an action Henry takes. What the scenes do establish is a contrast between the relatives’ conspicuous opinions and Janey’s direct responsibility for her mother’s arrangements.

His panic at the fire offers another small reversal: the man who announces a judgment now announces his fear that he may be dying. Charlotte, meanwhile, acts immediately to turn Holly away from the burning car, and Henry’s distress becomes part of the family’s collective reaction rather than the center of the scene. When Charlotte later calls Hodges for help, the narration says he is not surprised to hear from her, though not pleased; it does not specify that Henry is involved in that call. Across these appearances, Henry remains a secondary figure whose voiced objections and alarm help frame the strain of the family gathering without displacing the grief and care carried principally by Janey and Holly.