"He made no attempt to rise, but remained kneeling, fascinated by the
look of joy that shone out of the other man's eyes. And the other man
moved the high-backed chairs one by one, and came towards him softly.
"Then, just as the man who had been wronged stood beside the man who had
wronged him, full of gladness that his opportunity had come, there burst
from the cathedral tower a sudden clash of bells, and the man, whose
opportunity had come, broke his heart and fell back dead, with that
mocking smile still playing round his mouth.
"And so he lay there.
"Then the man who had done the wrong rose up and passed out, praising
God.
"What became of the body of the other man is not known. It was the body
of a stranger who had died suddenly in the cathedral. There was none to
identify it, none to claim it.
"Years passed away, and the survivor in the tragedy became a worthy and
useful citizen, and a noted man of science.
"In his laboratory were many objects necessary to him in his researches,
and, prominent among them, stood in a certain corner a human skeleton. It
was a very old and much-mended skeleton, and one day the long-expected
end arrived, and it tumbled to pieces.
"Thus it became necessary to purchase another.
"The man of science visited a dealer he well knew--a little parchment-
faced old man who kept a dingy shop, where nothing was ever sold, within
the shadow of the towers of Notre Dame.
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