human
I quite forgot, Miss Fanshawe, said he, artfully compelling her attention,
gpt
It is elaborately carved, and is dated, you see, 1411. If you look near you will see that the original epitaph has been chipped off near the middle, and the word '_Eheu_,' which is Latin for 'alas!' cut deeply into the stone.
human
What a hideous skull!
gpt
Yes, what a diabolical expression! Isn't it?
human
Are not those _tears_?
gpt
No, look more nearly and you will see. They are worms--great worms--crawling from the eyes, and knotting themselves, as you see,
human
Yes, said the lady, with a slight shudder,
gpt
A tongue of fire. It represents a flame issuing from between the teeth; and on the scroll beneath, which looks, you see, like parchment shrivelled by fire are the words in Latin, 'Where their worm dieth not, and the fire is not quenched;' and here is the epitaph--'Hic sunt ruinæ, forma letifera, cor mortuum, lubrica lingua dæmonis, digitus proditor, nunc gehennæ favilla. Plorate. Plaudite.' It is Latin, and the meaning is, 'Here are ruins, fatal beauty, a dead heart, the slimy tongue of the demon, a traitor finger, now ashes of gehenna. Lament. Applaud.' Some people say it is the tomb of the wicked Lady Mandeville, from whom we have the honour of being descended, who with her traitor finger indicated the place where her husband was concealed; and afterwards was herself put to death, they say, though I never knew any evidence of it, by her own son. All this happened in the Castle of Cardyllian, which accounts for her being buried in the comparative seclusion of the Priory, and yet so near Cardyllian. But antiquarians say the real date of that lady's misdoings was nearly a century later; and so the matter rests an enigma probably to the day of doom.
human
It is a very good horror. What a pity we shall never know those sentences that have been cut away,
gpt
That skull is worth sketching; won't you try it?
human
No, not for the world. I shall find it only too hard to forget it, and I don't mean to look at it again. Some countenances seize one with a tenacity and vividness quite terrible.
gpt
said Cleve, with a meaning she understood, as he turned away with her.
human
We are not rich in wonders here, but the old church chest is worth seeing, it is curiously carved.
gpt
I'm a little tired, Margaret; you will look at it, dear; and Mr. Verney will excuse me. We have been delving and hoeing all the morning, and I shall rest here for a few minutes.
human
Hadn't you better come? It's only a step, and Mr. Verney says it is really curious.
gpt
I'm a positive old woman, said cousin Anne,