"My dear little girl! We know that he was very kind and good, and—and Almighty God's mercy...." He stopped, looking disconcerted.
"What's come over you, Lily?"
"I don't know. Only it all seemed so unreal, somehow, to think of Cousin Charlie perfectly happy in heaven and either not knowing anything at all about the people he loved best, or else, in some miraculous way, able to understand why God should let them suffer, and what good is going to come out of it all, so that he doesn't mind. It all seems so—so unlike the ordinary sort of person that he was."
"Yes," said Nicholas. "Yes."
"How could he suddenly turn into a pure spirit who would find eternal joy in the presence of God?" cried Lily recklessly. "They sang that hymn about heaven, but how can one imagine an ordinary, average, good person suddenly in heaven for ever and ever more, unless they've become absolutely different? Surely it's the same essential spirit that was on earth, that goes on into the next world?"
"Heaven, eh? Harps and crowns and white robes and wings and all the rest of it, eh, Lily? No, my dear, I can't say that any of that appeals to me very much."
"Do you believe in it, Nicholas?"
"The old idea of heaven or hell, world without end, Amen? No—yes. I don't know. No, I can't say I do."
"What do you think happens after death, then?"
"One goes on, somewhere or other, of course."