"Clever," said Jimmy, admiringly. "Mendin' the clock. _Clever!_"

"William!" groaned his mother, "you've ruined the clock. What _will_
your father say?"

"Well, the cog-wheels was wrong," said William doggedly. "See? An'
this ratchet-wheel isn't on the pawl prop'ly--not like what this book
says it ought to be. Seems we've got to take it all to pieces to get
it right. Seems to me the person wot made this clock didn't know much
about clock-making. Seems to me----"

"Be _quiet_, William!"

"We was be quietin' 'fore you came in," said Jimmy, severely. "You
'sturbed us."

"Leave it just as it is, William," said his mother.

"You don't _unnerstand_," said William with the excitement of the
fanatic. "The cog-wheel an' the ratchet ought to be put on the arbor
different. See, this is the cog-wheel. Well, it oughtn't to be like
wot it was. It was put on all _wrong_. Well, we was mendin' it. An' we
was doin' it for _you_," he ended, bitterly, "jus' to help an'--to--to
make other folks happy. It makes folks happy havin' clocks goin'
right, anyone would _think_. But if you _want_ your clocks put
together wrong, _I_ don't care."

He picked up his book and walked proudly from the room followed by the
admiring Jimmy.