"The little parchment-faced old man had just the very thing that Monsieur
wanted--a singularly fine and well-proportioned 'study.' It should be
sent round and set up in Monsieur's laboratory that very afternoon.
"The dealer was as good as his word. When Monsieur entered his
laboratory that evening, the thing was in its place.
"Monsieur seated himself in his high-backed chair, and tried to collect
his thoughts. But Monsieur's thoughts were unruly, and inclined to
wander, and to wander always in one direction.
"Monsieur opened a large volume and commenced to read. He read of a man
who had wronged another and fled from him, the other man following.
Finding himself reading this, he closed the book angrily, and went and
stood by the window and looked out. He saw before him the sun-pierced
nave of a great cathedral, and on the stones lay a dead man with a
mocking smile upon his face.
"Cursing himself for a fool, he turned away with a laugh. But his laugh
was short-lived, for it seemed to him that something else in the room was
laughing also. Struck suddenly still, with his feet glued to the ground,
he stood listening for a while: then sought with starting eyes the corner
from where the sound had seemed to come. But the white thing standing
there was only grinning.
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