I stayed
over the next day, which was Sunday, and took my departure on the
following morning after having told Theobald all that his son wished
me to tell him. Theobald asked me to help him with Christina's
epitaph.
"I would say," said he, "as little as possible; eulogies of the
departed are in most cases both unnecessary and untrue. Christina's
epitaph shall contain nothing which shall be either the one or the
other. I should give her name, the dates of her birth and death, and
of course say she was my wife, and then I think I should wind up with
a simple text-her favourite one for example, none indeed could be more
appropriate, 'Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God.'
I said I thought this would be very nice, and it was settled. So
Ernest was sent to give the order to Mr. Prosser, the stonemason in
the nearest town, who said it came from "the Beetitudes."
CHAPTER LXXXIV
"ON our way to town Ernest broached his plans for spending the
next year or two. I wanted him to try to get more into society
again, but he brushed this aside at once as the very last thing he had
a fancy for. For society indeed of all sorts, except of course that of
a few intimate friends, he had an unconquerable aversion.
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