chapter four

arthur withers thinks things out

i

after that last glimpse of the clockwork man, and the conversation with doctor allingham and gregg that followed, arthur had hurried home to his tea. no amount of interest in the affair, however stupendous it might appear both to himself and others, could dissuade him from his usual saturday night's programme. rose lomas, to whom he had recently become engaged, was a hundred times more important than a clockwork man, and whether a human being could actually exist who walked and talked by mechanical means was a small problem in comparison with that of changing his clothes, washing and tidying himself up in time for his assignation. as soon as the cricketers showed signs of stirring themselves, and so conveyed the comforting impression that they were not dead, arthur felt himself able to resume normal existence.

his lodgings were situated at the lower end of the town. the accommodation consisted[pg 64] of a small bedroom, which he shared with a fellow clerk, and a place at table with the other inmates of the house. the street was very dirty, and mrs. flack's house alone presented some sign of decency and respectability. it was a two-storied red brick cottage. there was no front garden, and you entered directly into a living room through a door, upon which a brass plate was fixed that bore the following announcement:—

mrs. flack

trained midwife.

arthur stumbled into the room, dropped his straw hat on to the broken-down couch that occupied the entire side of one wall, and sat down at the table.

"well?" enquired mrs. flack, as she poured him out a cup of tea, "who won?"

"nobody," remarked arthur, cramming bread and butter into his mouth. "game off."

mr. flack, who was seated in his arm-chair by the fire-place, looked up in amazement. his interest in cricket was immense, but chronic rheumatism prevented him from getting as far as the ground. he was dependent upon arthur's reports and the local paper. "'ow's that, then?" he demanded, slowly.

arthur swallowed quickly and tried to[pg 65] explain. but, although the affair was still hot in his mind, he found it exceedingly difficult to describe exactly what had taken place. the doings of the clockwork man were at once obvious and inexplicable. it was almost impossible to intrigue people who had not actually witnessed the affair into a realisation of such extraordinary happenings. arthur had to resort to abrupt movements of his arms and legs in order to produce an effect. but he made a great point of insistence upon the ear-flapping.

"go hon!" exclaimed mrs. flack, leaning her red folded arms upon the table, "well i never!"

"'tain't possible," objected her husband, "'e's pulling your leg, ma."

but arthur persisted in his imitations, without caring very much whether his observers believed him or not. it at least afforded an entertaining occupation. mrs. flack's motherly bosom rose and fell with merriment. "it's as good as the pictures," she announced at last, wiping her eyes. but when arthur spoke about the loud noise, and hinted that the clockwork man's internal arrangements consisted of some kind of machinery, mr. flack sat bolt upright and shook his head gravely.

"you're a masterpiece," he remarked,[pg 66] "that's what you are." this was his usual term for anything out the way. "you ain't a going to get me to believe that, not at my age.

"if you saw him," said arthur, emphatically, "you'd have to believe. it's just that, and nothing else. he's like one of those mechanical toys come to life. and it's so funny. you'd never guess."

mr. flack shook his head thoughtfully. presently he got up, walked to the end of the mantelpiece, placed his smoked-out pipe on the edge and took an empty one from behind an ornament. then he returned to his seat and sat for a long time with the empty pipe in his mouth.

"'t'ain't possible," he ruminated, at last, "not for a bloke to 'ave machinery inside 'im. at least, not to my way of thinking."

arthur finished his tea and got up from his chair. conscious that his efforts so far had not carried conviction, he spent a few moments of valuable time in an attempt to supplement them.

"he went like this," he explained, imitating the walk of the clockwork man, and at the same time snapping his fingers to suggest sharp clicking noises. "and the row! well, you know what a motor sounds like when it's being wound up. like that, only worse."

[pg 67]

mrs. flack held the greater part of herself in a semicircle of red arm. "you are a one," she declared. then she looked at mr. flack, who sat unmoved. "why don't you laugh. it would do you good. you take everything so serious."

"i ain't a going to laugh," said mr. flack, "not unless i see fit to laugh." and he continued to stare gravely at arthur's elaborate posturing. presently the latter remembered his urgent appointment and disappeared through the narrow door that led upstairs.

"whoever 'e be," said mr. flack, referring to the strange visitor to great wymering, "i should judge 'im to be a bit of a masterpiece."

ii

upstairs in the bedroom, arthur hastily removed his flannels and paced the limited amount of floor space between the two beds. what a little box of a place it was, and how absurdly crammed with furniture! you couldn't move an inch without bumping into things or knocking something over. there wasn't room to swing a cat, much less to perform an elaborate toilet with that amount of leisurely comfort necessary to its successful accomplishment. ordinarily he didn't notice these things; it was only when he was in a[pg 68] hurry, and had all sorts of little duties to carry out, that the awkwardness of his surroundings forced themselves into his mind and produced a sense of revolt. there were times when everything seemed a confounded nuisance and a chair stuck in your way made you feel inclined to pitch it out of the window. just when you wanted to enjoy simply being yourself, when your thoughts were running in a pleasant, easeful way, you had to turn to and dress or undress, shave or wash, prepare yourself for the conventions of life. so much of existence was spent in actions that were obligatory only because other people expected you to do the same as themselves. it wasn't so much a waste of time as a waste of life.

he rescued his trousers from underneath the mattress. it was only recently that he had discovered this obvious substitute for a trouser press, and so added one more nuisance to existence. it was something else to be remembered. he grinned pleasantly at the thought of the circumstance which had brought about these careful habits. rose lomas liked him to look smart, and he had managed it somehow. there were plenty of dapper youths in great wymering, and arthur had been astute enough to notice wherein he had differed from them, in the first stages of his courting. early rebuffs had led him to perceive that the[pg 69] eye of love rests primarily upon a promising exterior, and only afterwards discovers the interior qualities that justify a wise choice. arthur had been spurned at first on account of a slovenliness that, to do him justice, was rather the result of personal conviction, however erring, than mere carelessness. he really had felt that it was a waste of life even to spend half an hour a month inside a barber's shop. not only that, but the experience was far-reaching in its unpleasant consequences. you went into the shop feeling agreeably familiar with yourself, conscious of intense personality; and you came out a nonentity, smelling of bay-rum. the barber succeeded in transforming you from an individual brimming over with original reflections and impulses into a stranger without a distinctive notion in your head. the barber, in fact, was a delilah in trousers; he ravished the locks from your head and bewitched you into the bargain.

arthur had a strong sense of originality, although he would have been the last person to claim originality in his thoughts. he disliked interference with any part of his personal being. as a boy he had been perturbed by the prospect of growing up. it had seemed to him such a hopeless sort of process, a mere longitudinal extension, without corresponding gain in other magnitudes. he suspected that[pg 70] other dubious advantages were only to be purchased at the expense of a thinning out of the joys of childhood. later on, he discovered, sadly enough, that this was the case; although it was possible deliberately to protract one's adolescence. hence his untidiness, his inefficiency, and even his obtuseness, were less constitutional faults than weapons in the warfare against the encroachment of time.

but the authorities at the bank regarded them as grave defects in his character.

falling in love had revealed the matter in a very different light. it was quite worth while yielding to fashion in order to win the affection of rose lomas. and so he had imitated his rivals. he cast aside all ties that revealed their linings, trimmed up the cuffs of his shirts; overcame with an effort a natural repugnance to wearing his best clothes; and generally submitted himself to that daily supervision of superficial matters which he could now regard as the prelude to happy hours. and rose, interested in that conquest of himself for her sake, had soon learned how much there was beneath the polished surface to capture her heart.

yes, love made everything different! you were ready to put up with all inconveniences and indignities for the sake of that strange obsession. that thought consoled him as he[pg 71] crept on hands and knees in order to pick up his safety razor that had dropped behind the bulky chest of drawers. love accounted for everything, both serious and comic.

he found his razor, plunged it into cold water—he had forgotten to ask mrs. flack for hot, and couldn't be bothered now—and lathered his face thoughtfully.

how many times, in the course of a lifetime, would he repeat that operation? and he would always stand in exactly the same way, with his legs straddled apart, and his elbows spanning out like flappers. he would always pass the razor over his face in a certain manner, avoiding those places where even the sharpest blade boggled a little, proceeding with the same mechanical strokes until the job was once more accomplished. afterwards, he would laboriously separate the portions of his razor and wipe them methodically, always in the same order. that was because, once you had decided upon the right way to do a thing you adopted that method for good.

he achieved that second grand sweep of the left side of his face, ending at the corner of his mouth, and followed it up by a swift, upward stroke, annihilating the bristly tuft underneath his lower lip. looking swiftly at the clock, he noticed that it was getting dreadfully late. that was another curious problem of existence.[pg 72] you were always up against time. generally, when you had to do something or get somewhere, there was this sense of breathless hurry and a disconcerting feeling that the world ended abruptly at the conclusion of every hour and then began again quite differently. the clock, in fact, was another tyrant, robbing you of that sensation of being able to go on for ever without changing. that was why people said, when they consulted their watches "how's the enemy?"

he attacked the problem of his upper lip with sturdy resolution. it was important that this part of his face should be quite smooth. there must not be even a suspicion of roughness. tears started into his eyes as he harrowed that tender surface. he drew in his breath sharply, and in that moment of voluntary and glad travail achieved a metaphysical conception of the first magnitude.

all really important questions in life came under the heading of time and space, thought of in capital letters. recently, he had struggled through a difficult book, in which the author used these expressions a great many times, although in a sense difficult to grasp. nevertheless, it suddenly became obvious, in a small way, exactly what the chap had been driving at.

and somehow, his thoughts instantly returned to the clockwork man. he performed[pg 73] the rest of his toilet swiftly, the major part of his brain occupied with reflections that had for their drift the curious ease with which you could perform some operations in life without consciously realising the fact.

iii

"oh, i'm not nearly ready yet!"

rose lomas stood at the open window of her bedroom. her bare arms and shoulders gleamed softly in the twilight. one hand held her loosened hair on the top of her head, and the other pressed a garment to her chest.

"alright," said arthur, standing at the gate, "buck up."

rose looked cautiously around as though to make sure no one else was in a position to observe her decolleté. but the road was empty. it seemed pleasant to see arthur standing there twirling his walking stick and looking upwards at her. she decided to keep him there for a few moments.

"lovely evening," she remarked, presently.

"yes, jolly," said arthur, "buck up."

"i am bucking up."

"you're not even dressed!"

"i am," rose insisted, distantly, "much more than you think. i've got lots on."

they looked solemnly at one another for a[pg 74] long while without even approaching a "stare out."

"how many runs did you make," rose asked. she had to repeat the question again before he could hear it distinctly. besides, he never could believe that her interest in cricket was serious.

"none," he admitted, "but i was not out."

rose considered. "that's not as good as making runs though."

arthur heard a slight noise somewhere round the back of the cottage. "someone coming," he warned.

rose retreated a few steps and lowered her head.

"walk up the lane," she whispered, "i'll come presently."

"alright," arthur nodded, "buck up."

he walked a few yards up the road, and then turned through a wicket gate and mounted the hump of a meadow. the narrow path swerved slightly to right and left. arthur fell to meditating upon paths in general and how they came into existence. obviously, it was because people always walked in the same way. countless footsteps, following the same line until the grass wore away. that was very odd when you came to think about it. why didn't people choose different ways of crossing that particular meadow? then there would[pg 75] be innumerable paths, representing a variety of choice. it would be interesting to start a path of your own, and see how many people would follow you, even though you deliberately chose a circuitous or not obviously direct route. you could come every day until the path was made.

he climbed over the top of the meadow, descended again into a valley, and stopped before a stile with hedges running away on either side. he decided to wait here for rose. it would be pleasant to see her coming over the hill.

it was gloaming now. the few visible stars shone with a peculiar individual brightness, and looked strangely pendulous in the fading blue sky. he leaned back and gazed at the depths above him. this time of the day was always puzzling. you could never tell exactly at what moment the sky really changed into the aspect of evening, and then, night. yet there must be some subtle moment when each star was born. perhaps by looking hard enough it would be possible to become aware of these things. it would be like watching a bud unfold. slow change was an impenetrable mystery, for actually things seemed to happen too quickly for you to notice them. or rather, you were too busy to notice them. spring was like that. every year you made up your[pg 76] mind to notice the first blossoming, the initial tinge of green; but always it happened that you awoke one morning and found that some vast change had taken place, so that it really seemed like a miracle.

he sat there, dangling an empty pipe between his teeth. he was not conscious of a desire to smoke, and he felt strangely tolerant of rose's delay. she would come presently.

presently his reverie was abruptly disturbed by a faint noise, strangely familiar although remote. it seemed to reach him from the right, as though something crept slowly along the hedge line, hidden from his view. it was a soft, purring sound, very regular and sustained. at first he thought it was the cry of a pheasant, but decided that it was much too persistent. it was something that made a noise in the process of walking along.

he held his breath and turned his head slowly to the right. for a long time the sound increased only very slightly. and then, there broke upon the general stillness a series of abrupt explosions.

pfft—pfft—pfft—pfft—pfft—

and the other noise, the purring and whirring, resumed this time so close to arthur that he instinctively, and half in fear, arose from the stile and looked around him. but the tall hedges sweeping away on either side[pg 77] made it difficult to see anyone who might be approaching under their cover. there was a pause. then a different sound.

click—click—clickerty click—clicker clicker—clicker— and so on, becoming louder and louder until at last it stopped, and its place was taken by the dull pitter-patter of footsteps coming nearer and nearer. there was a little harsh snort that might have been intended for a sigh, and then a voice.

"oh dear, it is trying. it really is most dreadfully trying—"

the next moment the clockwork man came into full view round the corner of the hedge. he was swaying slightly from side to side, in his usual fashion, and his eyes stared straight ahead of him. he did not appear to notice arthur, and did not stop until the latter politely stepped aside in order to allow him to pass. then the clockwork man screwed his head slowly round and appeared to become faintly apprehensive of the presence of another being. after a preliminary ear-flapping, he opened his mouth very wide.

"you haven't," he began, with great difficulty, "seen a hat and wig?"

"no," said arthur, and he glanced at the clockwork man's bald forehead and noticed something peculiar about the construction of the back of his head; there seemed to be[pg 78] some object there which he could not see because they were facing each other. "i'm sorry," he continued, looking rather hopelessly around him, "perhaps we could find them somewhere."

"somewhere!" echoed the clockwork man, "that's what seems to me so extraordinary! everybody says that. the idea of a thing being somewhere, you know. elsewhere than where you expect it to be. it's so confusing."

arthur consulted his common sense. "can't you remember the place where you lost them," he suggested.

a faint wrinkle of perplexity appeared on the other's forehead. he shook his head once "place. there, again, i can't grasp that idea. what is a place? and how does a thing come to be in one place and not in another?" he jerked a hand up as though to emphasise the point. "a thing either is or it isn't. it can't be in a place."

"but it must be somewhere," objected arthur, "that's obvious."

the clockwork man looked vaguely distressed. "theoretically," he agreed, "what you say is correct. i can conceive it as a mathematical problem. but actually, you know, it isn't at all obvious."

he jerked his head slowly round and gazed at the surrounding objects. "it's such an[pg 79] extraordinary world. i can't get used to it at all. one keeps on bumping into things and falling into things—things that ought not to be there, you know."

arthur could hardly control an eager curiosity to know what the thing was, round and shiny, that looked like a sort of halo at the back of the clockwork man's head. he kept on dodging from one side to the other in an effort to see it clearly.

"are you looking at my clock?" enquired the clockwork man, without altering his tone of speech. "i must apologise. i feel quite indecent."

"but what is it for?" gasped arthur.

"it's the regulating mechanism," said the other, monotonously, "i keep on forgetting that you can't know these things. you see, it controls me. but, of course, it's out of order. that's how i came to be here, in this absurd world. there can't be any other reason, i'm sure." he looked so childishly perplexed that arthur's sense of pity was again aroused, and he listened in respectful silence.

"you see," the mechanical voice went on, "only about half the clock is in action. that accounts for my present situation." there was a pause, broken only by obscure tickings, regular but thin in sound. "i had been feeling very run down, and went to have myself[pg 80] attended to. then some careless mechanic blundered, and of course i went all wrong." he turned swiftly and looked hard at arthur. "all wrong. absolutely all wrong. and of course, i—i—lapsed, you see."

"lapsed!" queried arthur.

"yes, i lapsed. slipped, if you like that better—slipped back about eight thousand years, so far as i can make out. and, of course, everything is different." his arms shot up both together in an abrupt gesture of despair. "and now i am confronted with all these old problems of time and space."

arthur's recent reflections returned to him, and produced a little glow in his mind. "is there a world," he questioned, "where the problems of time and space are different?"

"of course," replied the clockwork man, clicking slightly, "quite different. the clock, you see, made man independent of time and space. it solved everything."

"but what happens," arthur wanted to know, "when the clock works properly?"

"everything happens," said the other, "exactly as you want it to happen."

"awfully convenient," arthur murmured.

"exceedingly." the clockwork man's head nodded up and down with a regular rhythm. "the whole aim of man is convenience." he jerked himself forward a few paces, as though[pg 81] impelled against his will. "but my present situation, you know, is extremely inconvenient."

he waddled swiftly along, and, to arthur's great disappointment, disappeared round the corner of the hedge, so that it was impossible to get more than a fleeting glimpse of that fascinating object at the back of his head. but he was still speaking.

"i don't know what i shall do, i'm sure," arthur heard him say, as though to himself.

viii

rose lomas came slowly over the top of the hill. she was hatless, and her short, curly hair blew about her face, for a slight breeze had sprung up in the wake of the sunset. she wore a navy blue jacket over a white muslin blouse with a deep v at the breast. there was a fair stretch of plump leg, stockinged in black cashmere, between the edge of her dark skirt and the beginning of the tall boots that had taken so long to button up. she walked with her chin tilted upwards and her eyes half closed, and her hands were thrust into the slanting pockets of her jacket.

"whoever was that person you were talking to?" she enquired, as soon as they stood together.

"oh, someone who had lost his way," said[pg 82] arthur, carelessly. he felt curiously disinclined to explain matters just at present. the clockwork man was disconcerting. he was a rather terrifying side-issue. arthur had a feeling that rose would probably be frightened by him, for she was a timid girl. he half hoped now that this strange being would turn out to be some kind of monstrous hoax.

and so he said nothing. they remained by the stile, courting each other and the silent on-coming of night. they were very ordinary lovers, and behaved just exactly in the same way as other people in the same condition. they kissed at intervals and examined each other's faces with portentous gravity and microscopic care. leaning against the stile, they were frequently interrupted by pedestrians, some of whom took special care to light their pipes as they passed. but the disturbance scarcely affected them. being lovers, they belonged to each other; and the world about them also belonged to them, and seemed to fashion its laws in accordance with their desires. they would not have offered you twopence for a reformed house of commons or an enlightened civilisation.

"oh, arthur," said rose, suddenly, "i want to be like this always, don't you?"

"yes," murmured arthur, and then caught[pg 83] his breath sharply. for his ear had detected a faint throbbing and palpitation in the distance. it seemed to echo from the far-off hills, a sort of "chew chew," constantly repeated. and presently, another and more familiar sound aroused his attention. it was the "toot-toot" of an automobile and the jerk of a brake. and then the steady whine of the engine as the car ascended a hill. perhaps they were pursuing the clockwork man. arthur hoped not. it seemed to him the troubles of that strange being were bad enough without there being added to them the persecutions suffered by those to whom existence represents an endless puzzle, full of snares and surprises.