Hamlet's Back

Just as he said in his letter, Hamlet has returned to Denmark. I was there to meet him when his ship came into port in the dead of night. As we passed through the churchyard on the way back to Elsinore, we came across a man digging up some old bodies to make room for a new grave. Hamlet and I talked to the gravedigger for a little while before the gravedigger mentioned the identity of a skull he had found. It was the skull of one of the old king's jesters, and from what I could gather from Hamlet's impassioned reminisce about the skull, it was a jester of whom Hamlet was particularly fond. It wasn't long before the new tenant of the grave showed up, however, so Hamlet and I stood back to watch the strangely brief and unceremonious funeral. We learned from the conversations amongst Laertes, the king and the queen that it was Ophelia's burial. Shortly after the procession had lowered the casket into the grave, Laertes had jumped in after it to see his sister one more time. Hamlet was similarly moved, and stepped out of our hiding spot and loudly declared his love for Ophelia. I could not vouch for his state of mind at the moment, because I do not think that it was particularly wise of Hamlet to reveal himself to a man whose father he had recently killed. Hamlet and Laertes fought each other briefly before they were held apart, but Hamlet and I managed to get away, back to Elsinore. I do not know what the morning will bring, because Laertes was more than a little murderous towards Hamlet at the burial.