As soon as the two young ladies were gone, Dot hastened in search of Mr. Solomon. She found him walking home to his dinner, his spade over his shoulder; and, slipping her hand in his, she walked beside him, and told him her morning's adventures.
"Please, Mr. Solemn," she said, "have you got a soul?"
"Why, yes," said Solomon; "everybody's got one—to be sure they have."
"Then they'll only put your body in the ground, Mr. Solemn? I'm so glad—that won't matter so very much, will it?"
Solomon made no answer, so Dot went on—
"Shall you like your soul to go to heaven, Mr. Solemn?"
"Yes, child," said the old man; "it's a good place in heaven, so they say."
"Shall you dig graves in heaven, Mr. Solemn?"
"No," said the old man with a laugh; "there are no graves in heaven. There is 'no more death, neither sorrow, nor crying.'"
Solomon had learnt this verse at his mother's knee, years ago, and it came back to him with a strange freshness which almost startled him.