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With these words he sprang from his bed towards a book in which the names of his customers and the articles which had been sold to them were inscribed. He seized it and rapidly turned over its leaves, and his emaciated finger fixed itself on one of the pages. "There!" he cried, "there! this old iron clock, sold to Pittonaccio! It is the only one that has not been returned to me!
Master Zacharius, when he perceived Gerande, went forward and took her by the hand, and led her towards Pittonaccio, saying, "Behold your lord and master, my daughter. Gerande, behold your husband!" Gerande shuddered from head to foot. "Never!" cried Aubert, "for she is my betrothed." "Never!" responded Gerande, like a plaintive echo. Pittonaccio began to laugh.
All the watches or clocks made by the old man, and which had been returned to him because they were out of order, were stricken out excepting one: "Sold to M. Pittonaccio, an iron clock, with bell and moving figures; sent to his château at Andernatt." It was this "moral" clock of which Scholastique had spoken with so much enthusiasm. "My father is there!" cried Gerande.
Chance brought them at last back again to the vast hall, which had sheltered them during this night of anguish. It was no longer empty. Master Zacharius and Pittonaccio were talking there together, the one upright and rigid as a corpse, the other crouching over a marble table.
"And then, Gerande, thou wilt be happy with him. See this man, he is Time! Thy existence will be regulated with absolute precision. Gerande, since I gave thee life, give life to thy father!" "Gerande," murmured Aubert, "I am thy betrothed." "He is my father!" replied Gerande, fainting. "She is thine!" said Master Zacharius. "Pittonaccio, them wilt keep thy promise!"
You have come to give me your daughter! You have remembered my words, 'Gerande will not wed Aubert." The young apprentice rushed upon Pittonaccio, who escaped from him like a shadow. "Stop, Aubert!" cried Master Zacharius. "Good-night," said Pittonaccio, and he disappeared. "My father, let us fly from this hateful place!" cried Gerande. "My father!" Master Zacharius was no longer there.
"Dost thou hear, my Gerande? I live, I still live! Listen to my breathing, see the blood circulating in my veins! No, thou wouldst not kill thy father, and thou wilt accept this man for thy husband, so that I may become immortal, and at last attain the power of God!" At these blasphemous words old Scholastique crossed herself, and Pittonaccio laughed aloud with joy.
He was pursuing the phantom of Pittonaccio across the rickety corridors. Scholastique, Gerande, and Aubert remained, speechless and fainting, in the large gloomy hall. The young girl had fallen upon a stone seat; the old servant knelt beside her, and prayed; Aubert remained erect, watching his betrothed.
The old man had not only not been shocked by these impious maxims, but read them deliriously, and flattered himself with thoughts of pride, whilst Pittonaccio kept close by him. The marriage-contract was to be signed at midnight. Gerande, almost unconscious, saw or heard nothing. The silence was only broken by the old man's words, and the chuckling of Pittonaccio. Eleven o'clock struck.
The spring bounded before him, first on one side, then on the other, and he could not reach it. At last Pittonaccio seized it, and, uttering a horrible blasphemy, ingulfed himself in the earth. Master Zacharius fell backwards. He was dead. The old watchmaker was buried in the midst of the peaks of Andernatt.
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