" whatever their denomination, the dead were the dead and were all the same to John, or at least they had been up to this last month or so. Before that, he had thrown the dirt onto them with the comment, and this to himself, that ‘such was life’ or, when feeling very talkative inside, he might add, ‘When their number’s called, even the deaf hear.’ But this was before he had witnessed the accident at the crossroads. "

― Catherine Cookson , Saint Christopher and the Gravedigger