"Nonsense," I said. "Clocks have to stop, don't they, if they're
not wound?"

"It's wound up, all right, and it stopped at three o'clock last
night," he answered solemnly. "More'n that, that there clock
ain't stopped for fifteen years, not since Mr. Armstrong's first
wife died. And that ain't all,--no MA'M. Last three nights I
slep' in this place, after the electrics went out I had a token.
My oil lamp was full of oil, but it kep' goin' out, do what I
would. Minute I shet my eyes, out that lamp'd go. There ain't
no surer token of death. The Bible sez, LET YER LIGHT SHINE!
When a hand you can't see puts yer light out, it means death,
sure."

The old man's voice was full of conviction. In spite of myself I
had a chilly sensation in the small of my back, and I left him
mumbling over his dishes. Later on I heard a crash from the
pantry, and Liddy reported that Beulah, who is coal black, had
darted in front of Thomas just as he picked up a tray of dishes;
that the bad omen had been too much for him, and he had
dropped the tray.

The chug of the automobile as it climbed the hill was the most
welcome sound I had heard for a long time, and with Gertrude and
Halsey actually before me, my troubles seemed over for good.
Gertrude stood smiling in the hall, with her hat quite over one
ear, and her hair in every direction under her pink veil.
Gertrude is a very pretty girl, no matter how her hat is, and I
was not surprised when Halsey presented a good-looking young man,
who bowed at me and looked at Trude--that is the ridiculous