Rock Island Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1893-1920, 1902-08-30
TIME AND
TIMEPIECES


its place on the desk. Somehow it
Jarred!up him this evening 1t was
so 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 it was present from Marie
only served to increase his dislike to-
night. He lit his pipe and sat down to
write, but instead of words the inces-
SAINT textbook 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 trife fast
that got him out of bed ten minutes
sooner than he wanted to waken and
made the belated homecoming more
scandalous by quarter of an hour.
She had proposed 1t, he remember
ed, the night he had given his chatting
dish supper to some of her associates
at the Metropolitan theater. 1t was
when he thought he loved her and he
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 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
feel sorry for him. He was good
hearted, while Marie His eyes were
opened now to the shallow nature
masked nv the nrettV 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 Disguised him.
Marie did not figure in his last story,
which had just appeared, and in u
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 it's place
again. But where was it? 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 Il cheap china affair, but
back home fifteen years before it had
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 it up the
first night! Why, he was quite man!
That was what his mother said when
she came to tuck him into bed. Poor,
gentle motheri 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 pipe
would persist in getting into his eyes
He knocked the ashes out, and as the
condensation sizzled in the heel of his
pipe it seemed to him that he could
hear the bacon cracking in the spider.
Somehow tonight everything reminded
him of the old white farmhouse on the
Port Kent road.
Impatiently he brushed his sleeve
across his eyes, but his face softened
again as he wound up the old time
piece. 1t was not handsome, but it
would seem good to hear its quiet tick
ing once more. So he set it where the
other had stood for the past months.
Then he carried Marie's gift back into
the dining room.
When he came back, the room had
already taken on a more homelike as
pect. He could almost fancy that the
clock was hanked by the china dog
which had once been the dearest of his
possessions and the conch she'll brought
from the West Indies by Uncle Jim.
There, too, had stood Nelly Trescotts
photograph. How long ago that was
before he came to the city to win fame
and fortune and heartaches!
Yet he still remembered Nelrs ten
WlSlIul eyes. Oue was WI IL -
dozen like Marie. He had been fool
to sacrifice all the home ties to the
empty fame and friendship that were
now his.
So he sat and smoked and unused bit
terly. Never had he felt so utterly
alone. Only the ticking of the little
clock comforted him. Finally he read
its message. There was a new look
upon his face as he drew sheet of
paper toward him and wrote rapidly.
''Dear Nell" he said. stlo you remem-
Der that when we were children you
promised to marry me when l grew up
and was rich? 1 am grown up and
successful now, but 1 am lonely man.
For the sake of the old love. will you
give me hope that some day may win
you to fulfill that promise? 1 have
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