box which I should have judged to be the
original case in which Cleopatra's Needle came over.

They said that was my clock.

I brought down a chopper and a crowbar, and we sent out and collected in
two extra hired ruffians and the five of us worked away for half an hour
and got the clock out; after which the traffic up and down the staircase
was resumed, much to the satisfaction of the other tenants.

We then got the clock upstairs and put it together, and I fixed it in
the corner of the dining-room.

At first it exhibited a strong desire to topple over and fall on people,
but by the liberal use of nails and screws and bits of firewood, I made
life in the same room with it possible, and then, being exhausted, I had
my wounds dressed, and went to bed.

In the middle of the night my wife woke me up in a great state of alarm,
to say that the clock had just struck thirteen, and who did I think was
going to die?

I said I did not know, but hoped it might be the next-door dog.

My wife said she had a presentiment it meant baby. There was no
comforting her; she cried herself to sleep again.

During the course of the morning, I succeeded in persuading her that she
must have made a mistake, and she consented to smile once more. In the
afternoon the clock struck thirteen again.

This renewed all her fears. She was convinced now that both baby and I
were doomed, and that she would be left a childless widow. I tried to
treat the matter as a joke, and this only made her more wretched.
She said that she could see I really felt as she did, and was only
pretending to be light-hearted for her sake, and she said she would try
and bear it bravely.

The person she chiefly blamed was Buggles.

In the night the clock gave us another warning, and my wife accepted it
for her Aunt Maria, and seemed resigned. She wished, however, that I had
never had the clock, and wondered when, if ever, I should get cured of
my absurd craze for filling the house with tomfoolery.

The next day the clock struck thirteen four times and this cheered
her up. She said that if we were all going to die, it did not so much
matter. Most likely there was a fever or a plague coming, and we should
all be taken together.

She was quite light-hearted over it!

After that the clock went on and killed every friend and relation we
had, and then it started on the neighbors.

It struck thirteen all day long for months, until we were sick of
slaughter, and ther