"What?"

Jean-Christophe hesitated.

"Oh, uncle!" he asked, "where is he now?"

Gottfried answered:

"He is with the Lord, my boy."

But that was not what Jean-Christophe had asked.

"No; you do not understand. Where is he—he himself?" (He meant the body.)

He went on in a trembling voice:

"Is he still in the house?"

"They buried the good man this morning," said Gottfried. "Did you not hear the bells?"