"'No money?'
"'None. If he had any his pockets have been picked.'
"By his passport he belonged to Petchora province, far away. No one knew him. No one claimed him.
"'It means he must be buried at the public expense,' said the head man of the village, and spat upon the ground.
"In the whole village only the coffin maker rejoiced, and he had small cause, since a pauper's coffin costs but a shilling.
"'He must be buried on the common,' said the head man. 'There's no room in the churchyard.'
"'But a pilgrim,' said an objector. 'You must bury him in consecrated ground; you can't shut him out of the Heavenly Kingdom.'
"'No matter. Ask the priest. If the dead man can pay for a plot of ground for a grave, well and good; or if the villagers will subscribe….'
"The head man looked at the little crowd assembled. They were a poor and needy crowd. No one answered him. Then, without doing any more, the head man walked away, and the dead body remained in the street.
"It seemed no one would pay for the grave, but in the afternoon a woman who lived on the outskirts came and claimed the pilgrim as a distant relative. He could scarcely have been a relative, except inasmuch as we are all descended from Adam.