the dark little square in the ground down there he whispered hoarsely peering into the very depths of the grave � down there � he gave a gesture with his hands clasping and them nervously and still with an intense passionate searching horror into the mould s touch light and caressing as a woman s fell gently on his shoulder nay my little lad he said the tears in his voice shaking its deep tone to tenderest pathos � not down there � don t ye think it up there my dear up there and he raised his steadfast eyes to the perfect blue of the radiant heaven � up there beyond all that summer light an glory � in the lands o god an his holy angels � that s where mine is now with christ which is far better ay my dear far better for it s my selfish heart which her to god � it s just me a weak ignorant man can t see the lord s in her from me but surely he knows best � he must know best an he has seen the t fitted for the hard an ways o life � an so in very kindness has took her to himself an made of her an angel fore her time for angel she is now ye may be sure � as innocent as ever stood afore the great white throne � an it s not mine i m down here among the my lad but just the little earthly shape of her s pretty an light an like � we couldn t choose but love it all of us � but mine herself is yet � yes my dear an o me as much an more than ever she did � an there s naught shall come us now mother an child are wi the lord � an in a matter o short years i ll meet them both again an know as how for the best though now it seems a mystery an s hard looked up � his face was pole � his lips were set in a thin line you believe all that he said wildly � but you are wrong � quite wrong it isn t true � it s all silly superstition there is no god � no heaven � there are no such creatures as angels oh you poor poor man � you do not know � you have never learnt there is nothing more for us after death � nothing � you will never see little again � never � never he rose slowly from his kneeling position on the turf looking so old and weird and desperate that from him as from something unnatural and monstrous you will put her down there � he went on � in her coffin with all the flowers about her and you will the earth over her and very soon the worms will crawl over her poor little face and in and out her curls and make of her what you would not look at � what you would not touch � and he trembled violently as with an fit � and yet you loved her and you can talk of a god why a god who would take away from you would be the monster imaginable what reason could he give � what object could there be in first giving her to you and then killing her and making you miserable no no � there is no god you have not read � you have not studied things and you do not know � but you are all wrong there is no god � there is only the which does not care filled with alarm as well as grief thought the boy and endeavoured to take him again into his arms but shrank back and him poor little fellow he s just wi the shock an doesn t for the moment know he s thought the simple hearted man as he watched the childish figure of despair frozen as it seemed into a on the edge of s grave � if he could cry a bit do him good surely and struck by a sudden idea he said aloud � will ye come wi me my dear an see now as she lies asleep among her flowers � t frighten ye � she s just a little angel wi god s love written on her face will ye come no answered loudly and almost fiercely � i cannot you forget � i came out this morning to see her alive � with all her curls dancing about and her eyes shining � oh i was so happy and all the time she was dead no i couldn t look at her � i couldn t � i should be thinking of this grave and the worms there is one down there just now crawling � crawling � see and he suddenly began to laugh dry sobs with his laughter � oh � and you � you can actually believe it is a good god that has killed flinging his hands up above his head he suddenly turned away and ran � ran furiously out of the churchyard and away up the road not in the direction of his home but up towards the deep green woods that hang like a glorious over the village giving it shade even in the most of the summer sun looked after him wondering and half afraid god help the child he murmured � he seems gone clean mad like in s grief an it s something more than my mine s death that s working in s mind poor lad � it s a trouble out o reach somewhere an now i mind me he s lost his mother by a far worse than death � disgrace ah well and taking up his o he went resolutely to the of 