"Oh, I don"t expect to be entertained," returned Christopher brightly.
"Don"t have me on your mind at all. I"ll look after myself."
"That"s right! That"s right!" exclaimed his father, as if relieved by the intelligence. "You are welcome to go anywhere you like. Everybody knows you by sight and understands you are to be around here for a while. Just don"t get into mischief. And see you are ready promptly at one to go to luncheon with me."
"You can count on me for that!"
"I"ll wager I can."
With these words Mr. Burton opened the door of his office and disappeared.
Christopher hung up his hat and coat and hesitated uncertainly for a moment. He did not really know what he wanted to do. A general atmosphere of business of which he became instantly aware made him feel like an intruder. The men greeted him, it is true, but with minds focused far less on the salutation than on the various missions that drove them hither and thither.
There was something almost ludicrous about the seriousness with which they took this matter of rings and necklaces. One would have thought the affairs of a nation occupied them, so anxious and hurried were they.
He sauntered along the balcony in the wake of a red-cheeked young clerk who had bowed to him pleasantly and looked less as if he were speeding to save a burning ship or warn the king he was about to be blown up than did some of the others; and when this guide turned into a long, brilliantly lighted room, Christopher, having nothing better to do, entered too.
"You haven"t finished that bracket clock yet, have you, McPhearson?"
called the salesman, approaching a little old man who with a microscope to one eye was bending over a bench littered with small steel tools.
"Not yet, Bailey," the clockmaker replied without, however, looking up.
"She"s a queer piece, that clock--not one for ordinary treatment."
"But you can put her in shape, can"t you?" came a bit anxiously from Bailey.
At the words a slow smile puckered the Scotchman"s lips and for the first time he stole a glance at the speaker.
"Don"t fret, Bailey," he drawled.
"I"m not fretting, Mr. McPhearson. But the woman who owns that clock won"t sleep nights until she gets it home again."
"I don"t blame her," was all McPhearson said.
"It"s a good one, eh?"
"It"s a dandy. I"d give my head for one like it. Genuine from start to finish and listed in the book. It was made by Richard Parsons of Number 15 Goswell Street, London, somewhere about 1720--at least he is down as a member of the Clockmakers" Company right along then. Pity he can"t know his handiwork is still doing duty. He"d be proud of it. Two hundred years or more isn"t a bad record for a clock."
"Two hundred years!" gasped Christopher involuntarily.
McPhearson peeped up over his microscope.
"This is Mr. Burton"s son, McPhearson," put in Bailey.
"I know, I know. I"ve seen him round here ever since he could toddle.
Good morning, youngster. So you"ve come to explore the repairing department, have you?"
The informality of the greeting was delightful to Christopher, and immediately his heart went out to the old Scotchman.
"I guess so, yes," smiled he. "I didn"t know I was going to though. It just happened."
"It"s not a bad happen, perhaps. Make yourself at home, laddie. Here"s a stool."
"I"d rather stand and watch you."
"But I sha"n"t let you. It makes me nervous to have somebody hanging over my shoulder and maybe jogging my elbow. If you"re to stay you must sit," was the brusque but not unkindly answer.
Somewhat crestfallen the boy slipped to the stool and for a few moments remained immovable, watching the workman"s busy fingers. How carefully they moved--with what fascinating deftness and rapidity!
"I see you are not one to keep hitching and twiddling around," the clockmaker presently remarked, with a twinkle. "We shall get on famously together. I detest nervous people."
"Are you fixing the clock Mr. Bailey was asking about?" Christopher ventured.
"Not just now, sonny. I am finishing up a simpler job. I shall go back to her in a minute, however. You can"t just tinker her at will as you do common clocks. She has to be dreamed over."
"Dreamed over!" repeated Christopher, not a little puzzled.
"Aye, dreamed over! Well-nigh prayed over--if it comes to that,"
continued the old man gravely. "She isn"t the sort that was turned out in a factory, you see, along with hundreds of others of her kind. She"s an aristocrat and must be treated accordingly."
"Do you mean it--_she_--was made by hand?"
"Every wheel and rivet of her!"
"But I thought the works of all clocks were alike," a.s.serted Christopher.
"Bless your heart, no. Nowadays most of them are; and there are advantages in it too, for when a part gives out, you can easily get another to replace it. But years ago in the days of the clockmakers"
guilds, clocks were made by hand and were frequently entirely the work of one man--except perhaps the case, which was sometimes made by a joiner."
"Oh!"
"This old bracket clock, for instance, that I was speaking of--a fellow named Richard Parsons, who belonged to the London Clockmakers" Company between 1690 and 1730, made her from start to finish. You will see his name painted on the dial, and engraved on the works is his address. The jealous old clockmakers kept their eye on those who were manufacturing clocks, I can tell you. They weren"t going to have a lot of cheap, poorly made articles shunted off on the public to ruin their trade. No, indeed. A man must serve a long apprenticeship before he could be admitted to the Clockmakers" Company and once enrolled must put his address in all his clocks so everybody would know he had a right to make and sell them."
"It wasn"t a bad idea."
"Not at all bad. Nevertheless, the clockmakers were a stern, tyrannical lot. n.o.body within twenty miles of London was allowed to make a clock unless enrolled in their organization. Moreover, they got from the king a right of search which enabled them to go in and seize any goods which they suspected fell below the standard. Not only did they want to be sure no poor clocks were made but they also wished to keep the monopoly of all the timepieces turned out.
"For example, when war in France drove many of the French artisans to England, up rose the London clockmakers to protest against any of the French makers practicing their craft within their domains. Fortunately the pet.i.tion was denied and at length these skilled workmen were enrolled in the company and together with their descendants gave to England some of her most beautiful clocks. But the old guild members did not suffer it without a wrench, I can tell you."
McPhearson took up a small screwdriver and proceeded to fasten the back on to the clock he held in his hand.
"It wasn"t all smooth sailing, being a clockmaker in those days," he declared. "What wonder the horologers were jealous of their art? Just remember there were no factories to produce for you the screws, rivets, wheels, and parts you needed. You yourself had to make everything with the scant supply of tools at your command, usually a file, drill, and hammer. With these you hammered out your bra.s.s wheels to the required thickness, notched the teeth in their edges with the file, and fitted them into place. And when you consider that with this crude equipment you were expected to turn out a mechanism delicate enough to tell time, I am sure you will agree the stern old clockmakers had something on their side."
"They sure had!" Christopher exclaimed with enthusiasm.
"It is a glory to this Richard Parsons" skill that two hundred years after he made his clock it is still accurately performing its task. If anything I made was in existence at the end of a like stretch of time and was continuing to be useful, I should feel I had a right to be proud, shouldn"t you?"
"You bet I would. Nothing I make ever stays together more than a week."
The Scotchman laughed at the boyish confession.