"The Beauty of the Dead."

A woman dies, attended only by her devoted husband of forty years and surrounded by fine furniture, china, and glassware that over time had become their mutual obsession.

As he lays her in the coffin that he has built, he stands "with tears in his eyes...for a long time, taking in the beauty of the snow-light that was growing stronger every moment, and the beauty of the dead."

In the Fortnightly (December 1939), The Beauty of the Dead and Other Stories (1940), The Beauty of the Dead and One Other Short Story (1941), Thirty-One Selected Tales (1947), Selected Short Stories of H.E. Bates (1951), Selected Stories (1957), The Poison Ladies and Other Short Stories (1976).