Thomas laughs, dismissing thoughts of bones left unclaimed in the dark and graves that have no one to visit and think of he departed. It's too easy to imagine that they're heading into a grave themselves, or to drift off in thoughts of the family he does his best to put out of mind.

"Ah, but it is strange only until you think of it in terms of preservation of myself. This is a passage in a hall built by a lord, and has been kept up by his descendants. I have no doubt that such men would be careful to be very certain that they will not have to risk a collapsed passage ruining their library. Such men often don't care as much about the stability of the mineshafts they send others down. I could perhaps converse with a vampyr, a fall of stone has no mind to change."