Funereal sound a little girl heard (5)
I believe the answer is:
knell
'funereal sound' is the definition.
(I've seen this in another clue)
'a little girl heard' is the wordplay.
'a little girl' becomes 'Nell' (Little Nell, character in The Old Curiosity Shop).
'heard' shows a homophone (sound like).
'nell' sounds like 'KNELL'.
(Other definitions for knell that I've seen before include "Sound of funeral bell" , "Sound of tolling bell" , "Solemn warning" , "Funeral-bell" , "it precipitates death" .)