The Canterville Ghost

Lord Canterville returns and a funeral is held for Sir Simon. His casket is pulled by eight decorated horses, and no less than four carriages carry the family and Mrs. Umney as mourners. Sir Simon is given every honor, and once his casket is lowered into his deep grave in the churchyard, Virginia places an almond blossom with him. After the funeral, Hiram tries to convince Lord Canterville to take the jewels, because they are his property. However, he does request that Virginia be allowed to keep the casket they came in when Sir Simon gifted them to her.

Lord Canterville assures Hiram that he cannot accept the jewels, and that they were given to Virginia in gratitude for her service to Sir Simon. He jokes that if he did take them back, Sir Simon’s ghost would return from his grave to begin haunting him anew. Finally, he argues that the jewels are not a legal heirloom, since they have never been mentioned in any will—and besides, Hiram “took the furniture and the ghost at a valuation, and anything that belonged to the ghost passed at once into [Hiram’s] possession” (34).

When Virginia and Cecil (the Duke) are old enough, they marry.