第64章

AN OUTLANDISH WATCH.

As I entered the little town, I came upon two of the fishermen's wives interchanging that last word "which never was the last":

and it occurred to me, as an experiment with the Magic Watch, to wait till the little scene was over, and then to 'encore' it.

"Well, good night t'ye! And ye winna forget to send us word when your Martha writes?""Nay, ah winna forget.An' if she isn't suited, she can but coom back.

Good night t'ye!"

A casual observer might have thought "and there ends the dialogue!"That casual observer would have been mistaken.

"Ah, she'll like 'em, I war'n' ye! They'll not treat her bad, yer may depend.They're varry canny fowk.Good night!""Ay, they are that! Good night!"

"Good night! And ye'll send us word if she writes?""Aye, ah will, yer may depend! Good night t'ye!"And at last they parted.I waited till they were some twenty yards apart, and then put the Watch a minute back.The instantaneous change was startling: the two figures seemed to flash back into their former places.

"--isn't suited, she can but coom back.Good night t'ye!" one of them was saying: and so the whole dialogue was repeated, and, when they had parted for the second time, I let them go their several ways, and strolled on through the town.

"But the real usefulness of this magic power," I thought, "would be to undo some harm, some painful event, some accident--"I had not long to wait for an opportunity of testing this property also of the Magic Watch, for, even as the thought passed through my mind, the accident I was imagining occurred.A light cart was standing at the door of the 'Great Millinery Depot' of Elveston, laden with card-board packing-cases, which the driver was carrying into the shop, one by one.One of the cases had fallen into the street, but it scarcely seemed worth while to step forward and pick it up, as the man would be back again in a moment.Yet, in that moment, a young man riding a bicycle came sharp round the corner of the street and, in trying to avoid running over the box, upset his machine, and was thrown headlong against the wheel of the spring-cart.

The driver ran out to his assistance, and he and I together raised the unfortunate cyclist and carried him into the shop.His head was cut and bleeding; and one knee seemed to be badly injured; and it was speedily settled that he had better be conveyed at once to the only Surgery in the place.I helped them in emptying the cart, and placing in it some pillows for the wounded man to rest on; and it was only when the driver had mounted to his place, and was starting for the Surgery, that Ibethought me of the strange power I possessed of undoing all this harm.

"Now is my time!" I said to myself, as I moved back the hand of the Watch, and saw, almost without surprise this time, all things restored to the places they had occupied at the critical moment when I had first noticed the fallen packing-case.

Instantly I stepped out into the street, picked up the box, and replaced it in the cart: in the next moment the bicycle had spun round the corner, passed the cart without let or hindrance, and soon vanished in the distance, in a cloud of dust.

"Delightful power of magic!" I thought.

"How much of human suffering I have--not only relieved, but actually annihilated!" And, in a glow of conscious virtue, I stood watching the unloading of the cart, still holding the Magic Watch open in my hand, as I was curious to see what would happen when we again reached the exact time at which I had put back the hand.

The result was one that, if only I had considered the thing carefully, I might have foreseen: as the hand of the Watch touched the mark, the spring-cart--which had driven off, and was by this time half-way down the street, was back again at the door, and in the act of starting, while--oh woe for the golden dream of world-wide benevolence that had dazzled my dreaming fancy!--the wounded youth was once more reclining on the heap of pillows, his pale face set rigidly in the hard lines that told of pain resolutely endured.

"Oh mocking Magic Watch!" I said to myself, as I passed out of the little town, and took the seaward road that led to my lodgings.

"The good I fancied I could do is vanished like a dream: the evil of this troublesome world is the only abiding reality!"And now I must record an experience so strange, that I think it only fair, before beginning to relate it, to release my much-enduring reader from any obligation he may feel to believe this part of my story.

I would not have believed it, I freely confess, if I had not seen it with my own eyes: then why should I expect it of my reader, who, quite possibly, has never seen anything of the sort?

I was passing a pretty little villa, which stood rather back from the road, in its own grounds, with bright flower-beds in front---creepers wandering over the walls and hanging in festoons about the bow-windows--an easy-chair forgotten on the lawn, with a newspaper lying near it--a small pug-dog "couchant" before it, resolved to guard the treasure even at the sacrifice of life--and a front-door standing invitingly half-open."Here is my chance," I thought, "for testing the reverse action of the Magic Watch!" I pressed the 'reversal-peg' and walked in.

In another house, the entrance of a stranger might cause surprise--perhaps anger, even going so far as to expel the said stranger with violence: but here, I knew, nothing of the sort could happen.

The ordinary course of events first, to think nothing about me;then, hearing my footsteps to look up and see me; and then to wonder what business I had there--would be reversed by the action of my Watch.

They would first wonder who I was, then see me, then look down, and think no more about me.And as to being expelled with violence, that event would necessarily come first in this case."So, if I can once get in," I said to myself, "all risk of expulsion will be over!"[Image...'The pug-dog sat up']