"To you, Master Zacharius—you, who cannot restore life to your watches!"
"But it is because I have a fever, and so have they also!" replied the old man, as a cold sweat broke out upon him.
"Very well, they will die with you, since you are prevented from imparting a little elasticity to their springs."
"Die! No, for you yourself have said it! I cannot die,—I, the first watchmaker in the world; I, who, by means of these pieces and diverse wheels, have been able to regulate the movement with absolute precision! Have I not subjected time to exact laws, and can I not dispose of it like a despot? Before a sublime genius had disposed regularly these wandering hours, in what vast waste was human destiny plunged? At what certain moment could the acts of life be connected with each other? But you, man or devil, whatever you may be, have never considered the magnificence of my art, which calls every science to its aid! No, no! I, Master Zacharius, cannot die, for, as I have regulated time, time would end with me! It would return to the infinite, whence my genius has rescued it, and it would lose itself irreparably in the gulf of chaos! No, I can no more die than the Creator of this universe, submitted to its laws! I have become his equal, and I have partaken of his power! If God has created eternity, Master Zacharius has created time!"
The old watchmaker now resembled the fallen angel, defiant in the presence of the Creator. The little old man seemed to breathe into him this impious transport.
"Well said, master," he replied. "Beelzebub had less right than you to compare himself with God! Your glory must not perish! So your servant desires to give you the method of controlling these rebellious watches."
"What is it? what is it?" cried Master Zacharius.
"You shall know on the day after that on which you have given me your daughter's hand."
"My Gerande?"
"Herself!"
"My daughter's heart is not free," replied Master Zacharius, who seemed neither astonished nor angry.
"Bah! She is not the least beautiful of watches; but she will end by stopping also—"
"My daughter,—my Gerande! No!"
