It was said that he had been
murdered and thrown out of a window, but nobody knew how or when. Of
course I could have spoken, but then I should have got into trouble.
And I avoid trouble whenever I can. A very strange thing it is that
no one has ever been suspected of leaping from Notre Dame into the
next world since Victor Hugo's great story was written. 'It is
against the rules,' say the authorities, 'to mount the towers at
night.' True, but rules are not always kept. Victor Hugo's
'Quasimodo,' who never lived, is the only person the wiseacres
associate with such a deed. And I,--I could tell many a strange
story; only it is better to be silent! Life is hard living,--and
when a priest of the Church feels there is no God in this world, why
what is there left for him except to try and find out if there is in
the next?"
"Suicide is not the way to find Heaven," said the Cardinal gravely.
"Maybe not,--maybe not," and the old custodian turned to lead the
way down the steps of the tower, "But when the brain is gone all
through grief at losing God, it may chance that God sees the
conditions of things, and has mercy. Events happen in this world of
such a kind as to make anyone who is not a saint, doubt the sense as
well as the goodness of the Creator,--of course that is a wicked
thing to say, for we make our own evils, no doubt--"
"That is very certain," said the Cardinal, "The unhappy man you have
told me of should have trusted God to the end, whether those whom he
preached to, believed his message or not.
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