"Don't you believe in a hell and eternal damnation?" asked Riche, who never believed in anything outside his own profession.
"There is neither hell nor damnation for anyone—there never was, and there never will be," Delapine answered. "The only hell that exists is the one that man creates for himself, and he can create a heaven just as easily as a hell. There are no limitations in the future life. Life was meant to be enjoyed, not endured, both in this world and the next."
"And what is your opinion about it all?" said Riche to Marcel.
"Oh, for my part I agree with the fellow who said that life was just one damn thing after another."
Villebois burst into a hearty laugh, in which he was joined by Delapine.
"I think," said the professor, "that it is about time we woke up our esteemed friend Payot. It is now five minutes to ten. Will you set your watches to agree with mine, and then all three of you go and stand beside his couch while I stay here. Precisely at ten o'clock I will tell him to wake up. But mind it must be distinctly understood, and you must promise me, that you will do nothing except carefully look at your watches."
All three left the room and crept quietly up to where Payot lay in a deep sleep, and took their stand around the insensible figure in front of them, each with his watch in his hand.
"Mon Dieu," whispered Marcel to Riche, "this is like 'waking' a corpse, as they say in Ireland. It is positively creepy."
They looked at their watches—it was two minutes to the hour.