them. They lent distinction to the locality by getting written up in a
sunday supplement, willy woolly being specially photographed therefor, a
gleam of transient glory, which, however it may have gratified our local
pride, left both of the subjects quite indifferent. Stepfather time
might have paid more heed to it had he not, at the time, been wholly
preoccupied in a difficult quest.
In a basement window, far over on avenue d, stood an old and battered
timepiece of which stepfather time had heard the voice but never seen
the face. Each of three attempts to investigate with a view to