“Yes.”

“You?”

“I.”

“Father Mestienne is the gravedigger.”

“He was.”

“What! He was?”

“He is dead.”

Fauchelevent had expected anything but this, that a gravedigger could die. It is true, nevertheless, that gravediggers do die themselves. By dint of excavating graves for other people, one hollows out one’s own.

Fauchelevent stood there with his mouth wide open. He had hardly the strength to stammer:⁠—

“But it is not possible!”