The Bellefontaine Republican. [volume] (Bellefontaine, Logan County, Ohio) 1855-1905, 1902-09-23
TIME AND
TIMEPIECES

Company.1
Ellersley wound up the clock and
set it by his watch. Then, with an
impatient movement, he put Ii back in
its place on the desk. Somehow II
Jared upon him this evening. 1t was
20 big and bright. so assertive in its
ticking, that he felt tempted to set 1t
In the bedroom, out Of sight and hear
Ing. That Ii was present from Marie
only served to increase his dislike to-
night Ee lit his pipe and sat down to
write. but instead of words the inces-
SAINT tick-tock surged through his brain.
Finally he leaned back In his chair
and glared at the offending timepiece.
How like Marie it was, he thought,
all glitter and gold and a loud voice
and an inclination to be a trifie fast
that got him out of bed ten minutes
sooner than he wanted to waken and
made the belated Homecoming more
scandalous by a quarter Of an hour.
She had proposed IT, he remember
ed, the night he had given his chafing
dish supper to some of her associates
at the Metropolitan theater. 1t was
"hCh Ac iONtu ucE anu Ne
had Joined in her laugh of scorn for
the little china clock that he knew
| SO well. When she had announced her
intention of providing a better one, he
had pressed her hand and assured her
that he would keep it always
And now-well, Marie had told him
that she was going to marry jerks,
who was forty, bald and wealthy He
had never liked jerks, but he began to
hearted, while Marie His eyes were
opened now to the shallow nature
masked by the pretty face.
When his first book had brought sue
| cess, he had met Marie. She had pro-
fessed to love him, and the heroine Of
his second novel was her idealized por-
trait. The story had been an even
greater success than the first, and the
Metropolitan manager had declared
that the advertising was worth thou
sands. That disgusted him.
Marie did not figure in his last story,
which had just appeared, and In a
pique she had announced her engage
ment to jerks. On the morrow, he told
himself. he would send it back to her.
The old clock should have its place
again. But where was 1t? He had
meant to give it to the janitor. but
something had stayed his hand.
All, there it was behind the tobacco
jar! 1t was a cheap china affair, but
back home fifteen years before it bad
been regarded as quite a marvel Of
eloquence.
He remembered how his patient,
overworked mother had proudly
brought it back from Keesport His
father had looked his disapproval, but
she had bought it with her "egg and
butter" money, and her right to waste
this fund in seeming extravaganza was
never questioned.
That was when he was fifteen and
first enjoyed the dignity of having his
own little room up under the lichen
covered shingles. The clock gave the
finishing touch, and with what an air
of Importance had he wound 1t up the
first night Why, he was quite a man
That was what his mother said when
she came to tuck him into bed. Poor
gentle mother, For ten years she had
lain there in the cemetery overlooking
Lake Champlain. Could she see him
now, he wondered, with his luxurious
apartments and comfortable bank ac
count?
Somehow the smoke from his plpt
would persist in getting into his eyei
this evening and making them water.
He knocked the ashes out, and as the
Il lan -fx lal In. 1.a lx.a ~ hi
pipe it seemed to him that he could
hear the bacon cracking I'm the spider
Somehow tonight everything reminded
him of the old white farmhouse ON thu
Port Kent road.
Impatiently he brushed his sleev
across his eyes, but his face softenet
again as he wound up the old time
piece. 1t was not handsome, but 1
would seem good to hear its quiet tick
ing once more. So he set 1t where tn
other had stood for the past months
the dining room.
When he came back, the room ha,
already taken on a more homelike as
pect. He could almost fancy that tn
clock was fianked by the china do
which had once been the dearest Of hi
possessions and the conch shell brough
from the West Indies by Uncle jim
There. too had stood Nelly Trescott'
photograph. How long ago that was
before he came to the city to win fam
and fortune and heartachesi
Yet he still remembered Nelps ter
2 der. wistful eyes. She was worth
dozen like Marie. He had been a fot
: to sacrifice all the home ties to tn
i empty fame and friendship that wer
now his.
! So he sat and smoked and mused bi
I terly. Never had, he felt SO utterl
alone. Only the ticking Of the littl
; clock comforted him. Finally he rea
fits message. There was a new loo
j upon his face as he drew a sheet G
paper toward him and wrote rapidly.
"Dear Nell" he said. do you remen
ber that when we were children 70
promised to marry me when grew u
and was richT l am grown up an
e successful now, but am a lonely. mai
e For the sake OF the old love, will yo
give me hope that some day may wi
n you to fulfill that promise? l ha,
3 been a blind worshiper after strans
u gods, but I've always loved you. dea
The clock aDd.my heart told me SO t
night. Tell me that may come hou
and begin again where we left of b
fore these weary months Of doubt al
d estrangement."
c Marie laughed when she heard Of b
marriage. but Eilersley neither kne
a nor cared He was learning ho
9 smoothly love made the hands OF tin