The story's expositional passages contain a large amount of colloquial language that develops the collective voice of the village. Although the story is narrated by an omniscient third-person narrator, the narration here is focalized from the perspective of the village and eventually of Helen. Contributing to Helen's characterization, the idioms and similes establish her outward persona and give insight into the community she belongs to. The chatter-like tone of the opening passages contrasts sharply with the formal, somber epigraph.
Mercifully, George's father and mother were both dead, and though Helen, thirty-five and independent, might well have washed her hands of the whole disgraceful affair, she most nobly took charge.
The colloquial diction and conversational tone of this sentence make it sound like a direct quote of people familiar with the Turrell family exchanging gossip. For example, by starting the sentence with the word "mercifully," the narrator suggests that the older generation of Turrells wouldn't have handled an illegitimate grandchild well. The notion that they're better off dead than alive with a scandal reinforces the casual yet involved tone, which contributes to the impression that the narrator is mimicking the village's chatter about Helen. The impression that the narrator is speaking in the style of people who know Helen is further reinforced by the idiomatic claim that she "might well have washed her hands of the whole disgraceful affair."
The following paragraph opens with a simile: "All these details were public property, for Helen was as open as the day." On the one hand, this simile seems appropriate, as Helen seems honest and accessible. Later in the story, the reader even finds out that she shares supposed secrets with her friends. On the other hand, this simile is ironic. A perceptive, suspecting reader has most likely caught onto the likelihood that Michael is not Helen's nephew but her own son. Nevertheless, it is possible for Helen to simultaneously be "open as the day" and be Michael's mother, as it appears that the whole village is in on the secret.
