Free eBooks at Planet eBook.com 915
the coffin in which she has slept for the last twenty years.’
‘That is just.’
‘It is a continuation of her slumber.’
‘So I shall have to nail up that coffin?’
‘ Ye s .’
‘And we are to reject the undertaker’s coffin?’
‘Precisely.’
‘I am at the orders of the very reverend community.’
‘The four Mother Precentors will assist you.’
‘In nailing up the coffin? I do not need them.’
‘No. In lowering the coffin.’
‘Where?’
‘Into the vault.’
‘What vault?’
‘Under the altar.’
Fauchelevent started.
‘The vault under the altar?’
‘Under the altar.’
‘But—‘
‘You will have an iron bar.’
‘Yes, but—‘
‘You will raise the stone with the bar by means of the
ring.’
‘But—‘
‘The dead must be obeyed. To be buried in the vault un-
der the altar of the chapel, not to go to profane earth; to
remain there in death where she prayed while living; such
was the last wish of Mother Crucifixion. She asked it of us;
that is to say, commanded us.’