San Antonio daily light. [volume] (San Antonio, Tex.) 1886-1907, 1890-11-04

uIeS 10 UVe.
us that what your watch says?" be
asked her in rather an amused tone. II
make it twenty minutes past FOUR
"Oh!'-a little startled, and half in
credulous.
And think / am right"
"Oh dearl-then something has gone
wrong with this again!"-and she be-
gan to gaze in a vexed way at the
hand. Il don't know what is the mat
ter with it; it is always going wrong
now"
"Those very small watches rarely go
right"
"This used to go right,-but it, has
taken to doing such odd things of late"
Let me see it,"-and he took it from
her.
Il am sure it ought not to be wrong,
for Gibson had it for a fortnight not
two months ago."
IF it has been in Gibson's hands,
with laugh-'I don't wonder that it
goes wrong" He opened the watch,
and looked at the works for few mo-
ments. II see what is the matter with
it. If you will leave it with me will
set it right for YOU" he said.
with yOu?' she exclaimed, and OPEN
ed her eyes. And then-half hesitat-
ing-"Oh, but l couldn't give you so
much trouble"
ut would be no trouble, for it is
kind of work that / am very fond of.
But perhaps you would rather not trust
it with mep" He said this, turning his
face suddenly round to her.
"Oh, did not mean thatl Only-I
did not know that you understood about
watches?"
81 have always had a liking for most
kinds of machinery"
"And can you take them to pieces?
Would you have to do that with mine?'
"Yes-I would take a good deal of it
to pieces"
'Oh!"-impulsively-''I should like,
to see you do it,"
IF you chose to wait till five o'clock
you might see me begin to do it now"
Might I?"-a little dubiously. Gould
you begin to do? now? Would it not be
inconvenientP"
"NOt at all inconvenient.nr
"Then I should like it,-very much, If
Mrs. Gilbert will let me stay" the girl
said; and, while Mrs. Gilbert was ex-
pressing her satisfaction at this arrange
ment, her son began to get out his tools;
and, before a couple of minutes had
passed, placing chair for Gabrielle,
he had sat down without any further
waste of time, and began his work.
Their mutual, position struck Ga
brielle with rather sense of comedy as
she took her seat beside him. Perhaps
for few moments, as she found her
self so suddenly pinned to the young
engineers elbow, she did not quite like
it, and thought that their sitting to-
gether so was odd, and wished that she
had not said anything about wanting to
watch him working; but after little
while she became interested enough in
what he was doing to forget all that.
She knew nothing whatever about
the structure Of watch Tor about al
most anything else), and she began to
get curious, and then to ask questions,
more and more eagerly. As she sat so,
thinking more of what she was watch
ing than Of herself, she lost much of
her usual sense of shyness with him;
he on his part, absorbed in his work,
wholly lost his shyness with her. She
stayed, looking and listening, and, in
an odd kind Of way, rather enjoying her
unaccustomed positiOn,-laughing at
herself now and then iuwardly for what
she was doing, and yet feeling that on
the whole she liked to do it,-that she
liked, more than she would beforehand
have believed that she could, to have
the grave young engineer sit so and talk
to her.
Not that she understood nearly all he
said to her, for she was in state of
dense mental darkness as to all subjects
beyond what mind as full Of them as
his own could almost be supposed to
credit, but she partially understood
various small fragments of what he
said, and his quiet assumption that she
knew a score of things which she ought
to have known and did not, though it
put her to shame occasionally, and Oc-
casionally made her laugh, on the whole
was pleasantly felt by her to be not a
little flattering. For Gabrielle was q
vain little soul, and in her heart OF
hearts loved to be thought too well OF,
ignorant Though she had native wit
enough) that it fiattered her to be be-
lieved to have grain of knowledge
as it flatters a plain woman when some
rare admirer, seeing her perhaps in the
twilight, thinks her pretty.
Mrs. Gilbert, sitting at the fireplace
knitting stockings, addressed a few
words to her son or to Gabrielle now and
then, and the half hour that Gabrielle
had stay passed quickly.
At the end of it he looked at his
watch, and told her ....
ut is ten minutes to FIVE"
'Oh, then, l must 60" she said; and
after few moment she rose up, half
reluctantly.
tits pretty, work, isn't it2 You
should come back and see him do the
rest of it, Miss Gabrielle" Mrs. Gilbert
said.
IInr con u,as natharinn his fools To-