Chapter 66
The Old Grave-StoneIN a house, with a large courtyard, in a provincial town,
at that time of the year in which people say the evenings are
growing longer, a family circle were gathered together at their old
home. A lamp burned on the table, although the weather was mild and
warm, and the long curtains hung down before the open windows, and
without the moon shone brightly in the dark-blue sky.
But they were not talking of the moon, but of a large, old
stone that lay below in the courtyard not very far from the kitchen
door. The maids often laid the clean copper saucepans and kitchen
vessels on this stone, that they might dry in the sun, and the
children were fond of playing on it. It was, in fact, an old
grave-stone.
"Yes," said the master of the house, "I believe th
