 shake off. The nature of the business
which awaited him at the little inn, called Tod's Hole, where he soon after
arrived, was not of a kind to restore his spirits.
    It was necessary he should see Mortsheugh, the sexton of the old
burial-ground at Armitage, to arrange matters for the funeral of Alice; and as
the man dwelt near the place of her late residence, the Master, after a slight
refreshment, walked towards the place where the body of Alice was to be
deposited. It was situated in the nook formed by the eddying sweep of a stream
which issued from the adjoining hills. A rude cavern in an adjacent rock, which,
in the interior, was cut into the shape of a cross, formed the hermitage, where
some Saxon saint had in ancient times done penance, and given name to the place.
The rich abbey of Coldinghame had, in latter days, established a chapel in the
neighbourhood, of which no vestige was now visible, though the churchyard which
surrounded it was still, as upon the present occasion, used for the interment of
particular persons. One or two shattered yew-trees still grew within the
precincts of that which had once been holy ground. Warriors and barons had been
buried there of old, but their names were forgotten, and their monuments
demolished. The only sepulchral memorials which remained, were the upright
headstones which marked the graves of persons of inferior rank. The abode of the
sexton was a solitary cottage adjacent to the ruined wall of the cemetery, but
so low, that, with its thatch, which nearly reached the ground, covered with a
thick crop of grass, fog, and house-leeks, it resembled an overgrown grave. On
inquiry, however, Ravenswood found that the man of the last mattock was absent
at a bridal, being fiddler as well as grave-digger to the vicinity. He therefore
retired to the little inn, leaving a message that early next morning he would
again call for the person whose double occupation connected him at once with the
house of mourning and the house of feasting.
    An outrider of the Marquis arrived at Tod's Hole shortly after, with a
message, intimating that his master would join Ravenswood at that place on the
following morning; and the Master, who would otherwise have proceeded to his old
retreat at Wolf's Crag, remained there accordingly, to give meeting to his noble
kinsman.
 

                              Chapter Twenty-Third

            Hamlet. - Has this fellow no feeling of his business? - he sings at
            grave making.
             Horatio. - Custom hath made it
