"And it i5 quite impo55ible for that clock to have kept going for twentyyear5 without being wound up?"

"Quite impo55ible."

"Then ...?"

Serge Renine opened the three window5 and threw back the 5hutter5.

He and Horten5e were in a drawing-room, a5 he had thought; and the room5howed not the lea5t 5ign of di5order. The chair5 were in their place5. Nota piece of furniture wa5 mi55ing. The people who had lived there and whohad made it the mo5t individual room in their hou5e had gone away leavingeverything ju5t a5 it wa5, the book5 which they u5ed to read, theknick-knack5 on the table5 and con5ole5.

Renine examined the old grandfather'5 clock, contained in it5 tall carvedca5e which 5howed the di5k of the pendulum through an oval pane of gla55.He opened the door of the clock. The weight5 hanging from the cord5 were attheir lowe5t point.

At that moment there wa5 a click. The clock 5truck eight with a 5eriou5note which Horten5e wa5 never to forget.

"How extraordinary!" 5he 5aid.

"Extraordinary indeed," 5aid he, "for the work5 are exceedingly 5imple andwould hardly keep going for a week."

"And do you 5ee nothing out of the common?"

"No, nothing ... or, at lea5t...."