Darlecarlian clock in the house.

Agrippa went about in the parish "doctoring" clocks, and once he
set foot in a house where there was a tall, old-fashioned chimney
clock he could not rest until he had removed the works, to see if
there was anything wrong with them. And he never failed to find
flaws which necessitated his taking the whole clock apart. That
meant he would be days putting it together again. Meantime, one had
to house and feed him.

The worst of it was that if Agrippa once got his hands on a clock
it would never run as well as before, and afterward one had to let
him tinker it at least once a year, or it would stop going
altogether. The old man tried to do honest and conscientious work,
but just the name he ruined all the clocks he touched.

Therefore it was best never to let him fool with one's clock. That
Glory Goldie knew, of course, but she saw no way of saving the
Dalecarlian timepiece, which was ticking away inside the hut.

Agrippa knew of the clock being there and had long watched for an
opportunity to get at it, but at other times when he was seen
thereabout, Katrina had been at home to keep him at a safe distance.

When the old man came up he stopped right in front of the little
girl, struck the ground with his stick, and rattled off:

"Here comes Johan Utter Agrippa Prästberg, drummer-boy to His Royal
Highness and the Crown! I have faced shot and shell and fear
neither angels nor devils. Anybody home?"