“I swear to you I will do all you wish.”
“And now,” he said, smiling, “look at the watch!”
He breathed a long sigh, and fell back. That sigh was his last.
I looked at the watch, it was exactly ten minutes past nine.
I turned to Louis de Franchi—he was dead.
We took back the body to the Rue de Helder, and while the Baron went to make the usual declaration to the Commissary of Police, I went upstairs with Joseph.
The poor lad was weeping bitterly.
As I entered, my eyes unconsciously turned towards the timepiece; it marked ten minutes past nine.
No doubt he had forgotten to wind it, and it had stopped at that hour.