human
Ah! 'tis a fine dry airy vault, said a lean man who proved to be a stonemason.
gpt
Never built a finer, I didn't, nor my mates neither. An' Muster Marlow'll have it all to 'isself.
human
Such a situation! croaked another.
gpt
Bang opposite the Lady Chapel! An' the view from that there vault! I don't know as any corp 'ud require a finer.
human
Mr. Marlow'll be lonely by himself, sighed a buxom woman;
gpt
Well, chimed in the village schoolmaster,
human
Dratted nonsense! cried Mrs. Timber, making a dash into the company with a tankard of beer in each hand.
gpt
Miss Sophy'll marry Mr. Thorold, won't she? An' he, as the Squire of Heathton, 'as a family vault, ain't he? She'll sleep beside him as his wife, lawfully begotten.
human
The Thorolds' vault is crowded, objected the stonemason.
gpt
Why, there's three-hundred-year dead folk there! A very old gentry lot, the Thorolds.
human
Older than your Marlows! snapped Mrs. Timber.
gpt
Who was he afore he came to take the Moat House five year ago? Came from nowhere--a tree without a root.
human
Nay, he came from Africa, I know--from Mashonaland, which is said to be the Ophir of King Solomon. And Mr. Marlow was a millionaire!
gpt
Much good his money'll do him now, groaned the buxom woman, who was a Dissenter.
human
Ah! Dives in torment.
gpt
You've no call to say that, Mrs. Berry. Mr. Marlow wasn't a bad man.
human
He was charitable, I don't deny, an' went to church regular, assented Mrs. Berry;
gpt
He died quietly, said the schoolmaster.
human
Dr. Warrender told me all about it--a kind of fit at ten o'clock last Thursday, and on Friday night he passed away as a sleeping child. He was not even sufficiently conscious to say good-by to Miss Sophy.
gpt
Ah, poor girl! she's gone to the seaside with Miss Parsh to nurse her sorrow.
human
It will soon pass--soon pass, observed the schoolmaster, waving his pipe.
gpt
The young don't think much of death. Miss Sophy's rich, too--rich as the Queen of Sheba, and she will marry Mr. Thorold in a few months. Funeral knells will give way to wedding-bells, Mrs. Berry.
human
Ah! sighed Mrs. Berry, feeling she was called upon for an appropriate sentiment;
gpt
If this company will permit, he said,
human
I propose now to give a recitation apropos of the present melancholy event. Need I say I refer to the lamented death of Mr. Marlow?
gpt
I'll have no godless mumming here, said Mrs. Timber firmly.
human
Besides, what do you know about Mr. Marlow?
gpt
Marlow! he wailed, drawing forth his red bandana for effect.
human
Did I not know him as I know myself? Were we not boys together till he went to Africa?
gpt
Perhaps you can tell us about Mr. Marlow, said the schoolmaster eagerly.
human
None of us knows exactly who he was. He appeared here with his daughter some five years ago, and took the Moat House. He was rich, and people said he had made his riches in South Africa.
gpt
He did! he did! said Cicero, deeply affected.
human
Millions he was worth--millions! I came hither to see him, and I arrive to find the fond friend of my youth dead. Oh, Jonathan, my brother Jonathan!
gpt
His name was Richard,
human
I know it, I know it. I use the appellation Jonathan merely in illustration of the close friendship which was between us. I am David.
gpt
H'm! snorted Mrs. Timber, eying him closely,
human
What! he cried, with simulated horror.
gpt
Reveal the secrets of the dead? Never! never!
human
Secrets? repeated the lean stonemason eagerly.
gpt
Ah! I always thought Mr. Marlow had 'em. He looked over his shoulder too often for my liking. An' there was a look on his face frequent which pointed, I may say, to a violent death.
human
Ah! say not that my friend Dick Marlow came to an untimely end.
gpt
He died of a fit, she said tartly,
human
Well, snapped that amiable beast,
gpt
You couldn't give me a bed for the night?
human
Course I could, for a shillin'.
gpt
I haven't a shilling, I regret to say.
human
Then you'd best get one, or go without your bed,