“Like all the other visitors, however, she never passed by the clock without pausing to look at it.

“‘I can’t help it,’ she whispered. ‘It’s its size! it’s stupendous! It quite fills the house! there is hardly any room to breathe! It’s a monstrous clock! It fascinates me! It’s more than a clock. You must GET RID of it.’

“Avice was whimsical. What, get rid of the Ebony Clock! Impossible—the idea tickled me. I laughed.

“I laughed then—but not later, when she had gone and all was quiet.

“From the hall below I heard it strike one, two, three—twelve!

“Its pendulum swung to and fro with a dull and ponderous clang, and the sound that came from its brazen lungs, though loud and deep and musical, was far too thrilling.

“Ag. . . Read More