Answer:
It was very low inside the house, and so dim, with the closed blinds, that they could scarcely see one another;
Her father standing decorously apart with his hat on his forearm, as at funerals; a woman rested in a deep arm-chair, and the woman who had let the strangers in stood behind the chair.
<em>Editha</em>, by William Dean Howells, is an antiwar story published in 1905. Its characters are people who greatly value custom and ritual, even when it is objectively inconvenient or awkward for them to do so.
The two chosen lines exemplify that character trait. In the first sentence, the house has the blinds closed, as was common for houses where the family had recently experienced a loss or a tragedy. This rule is followed, even though it meant that the characters were barely able to see each other.
The second sentence has a similar example, as Edith's father stands at a distance and with his hat in his hands. We are told this is the way it is done at funerals, which is consistent with the previous sentence and with the character's personality traits.
