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Old chrissie_red greyTowards morning, I laid out the body with the help of the man who was lay priest in the village, though most times he was a hewer in the mine, and his name was Martin. At noon I gave the obsequy, and Searle and Martin lowered the coffin into the ground, and I called for the salvation of the dead man’s soul in the name of the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Ghost and, though the fourth name is heresy, still I may be forgiven, for with this utterance I began to pry the vil- lage apart from its secret I called for salvation also in the name of the Griffin, and when I looked up from the Amen, every eye was shining.