top
of it for himself. But the top storey tumbled down, and he came
tumbling down with it, and broke his neck. Nevertheless he had a
splendid funeral, with guild flags and music; poems in the papers, and
flowers strewn on the paving-stones in the street; and three funeral
orations were held over him, each one longer than the last, which
would have rejoiced him greatly, for he always liked it when people
talked about him; a monument also was erected over his grave. It was
only one storey high, but still it was _something_.

Now he was dead like the three other brothers; but the last, the one
who was a critic, outlived them all: and that was quite right, for by
this means he got the last word, and it was of great importance to him
to have the last word. The people always said he had a good head of
his own. At last his hour came, and he died, and came to the gates of
Paradise. There souls always enter two and two, and he came up with
another soul that wanted to get into Paradise too; and who should this
be but old dame Margaret from the house upon the sea wall.

"I suppose this is done for the sake of contrast, that I and this
wretched soul should arrive here at exactly the same time!" said the
critic. "Pray who are you, my good woman?" he asked. "Do you want to
get in here too?"

And the old woman curtsied as well as she could: she thought it must
be St. Peter himself talking to her.

"I'm a poor old woman of a very humble family," she replied. "I'm old
Margaret that lived in the house on the sea wall."

"Well, and what have you done? what have you accomplished down there?"

"I have really accomplished nothing at all in the world: nothing that
I can plead to have the doors here opened to me. It would be a real
mercy to allow me to slip in through the gate."

"In what manner did you leave the world?" asked he, just for the sake
of saying something; for it was wearisome work standing there and
saying nothing.

"Why, I really don't know how I left it. I was sick and miserable
during my last years, and could not well bear creeping out of bed, and
going out suddenly into the frost and cold. It was a hard winter, but
I have got out of it all now. For a few days the weather was quite
calm, but very cold, as your honour must very well know. The sea was
covered with ice as far as one could look. All the people from the
town walked out upon the ice, and I think they said there was a dance
there, and skating. There was bea