"No. You see, the makers kept all the women because they were more
real, and they didn't want the fighting to go on, or the world that
the men wanted. So the makers took the women away from us and shut us
up in the clocks and gave us the world we wanted. But they left us no
loophole of escape into the real world, and we can neither laugh nor
cry properly."
"But you try," suggested Arthur.
"It's only breakdown," said the Clockwork man, sadly. "With us laughing
or crying are symptoms of breakdown. When we laugh or cry that means
that we have to go and get oiled or adjusted. Something has got out of
gear. Because in our life there's no necessity for these things."
His voice trailed away and ended in a soft, tinkling sound, like sheep
bells heard in the distance. During the long pause that followed
Arthur had time to recall that sense of pity for this grotesque being
which had accompanied his first impression of him; but now his feeling
swelled into an infinite compassion, and with it there came to him a
fierce questioning fever.
"But must you always be like this?" he began, with a suppressed crying
note in his voice. "Is there no hope for you?"
"None," said the Clockwork man, and the word was boomed out on a
hollow, brassy note. "We are made, you see. For us creation is
finished. We can only improve ourselves very slowly, but we shall never
quite escape the body of this death. We've only ourselves to blame. The
makers gave us our chance. They are beings of infinite patience and
forbearance. But they saw that we were determined to go on as we were,
and so they devised this means of giving us our wish. You see, Life
was a Vale of Tears, and men grew tired of the long journey. The makers
said that if we persevered we should come to the end and know joys
earth has not seen. But we could not wait, and we lost faith. It seemed
to us that if we could do away with death and disease, with change and
decay, then all our troubles would be over. So they did that for us,
and we've stopped the same as we were, except that time and space no
longer hinder us."
He broke off and struggled with some queer kind of mechanical emotion.
"And now they play games with us. They wind us up and make us do all
sorts of things, just for fun. They try all sorts of experiments with
us, and we can't help ourselves because we're in their power; and if
they like they can stop the clock, and then we aren't anything at all."
"But that's not very kind of them," suggested Arthur.
"Oh, they don't hurt us. We don't feel any pain or annoyance, only a
dim sort of revolt, and even that can be adjusted. You see, the makers
can ring the changes endlessly with us, and there isn't any kind of
being, from a great philosopher to a character out of a book, that we
can't be turned into by twisting a hand. It's all very wonderful, you
know."
He lifted his arms up and dropped them again sharply.
"You wouldn't believe some of the things we can do. The clock is a most
wonderful invention! And the economy. Some of the hands, you see, can
be used for quite different purposes. Twist them so many times and you
have a politician; twist a little more and you have a financier. Press
one stop slightly and we talk about the divinity of man; press harder
and there will issue from us nothing but blasphemy. Tighten a screw and
we are altruists; loosen it and we are beasts. You see, generations
ago it was known exactly the best and worst that man could be; and the
makers like to amuse themselves by going over it again. There isn't any
best or worst with them."
"But you," entreated Arthur, "what is your life like?"
Again the tears flowed down the Clockwork man's cheeks, this time in a
sequence of regular streams.
"We have only one hope, and even that is an illusion. Sometimes we
think the makers will take us seriously in the end, and so perfect
the mechanism that we shall be like them. But how can they? How can
they--unless--unless--"
"Unless what?" eagerly enquired Arthur, fearful of a final collapse.
"Unless we die," said the Clockwork man, clicking slightly, "unless
we consent to be broken up and put into the earth, and wait while we
slowly turn into little worms, and then into big worms; and then into
clumsy, crawling creatures, and finally come back again to the Vale of
Tears." He swayed slightly, with a finger lodged against his nose. "But
it will take such a frightful time, you know. That's why we chose to
have the clock. We were impatient. We were tired of waiting. The makers
said we must have patience; and we could not get patience. They said
that creation really took place in the twinkling of an eye, and we must
have patience."
"Patience!" echoed Arthur. "Yes, I think they were right. We must have
patience. We have to wait."
For a few moments the Clockwork man struggled along with a succession
of staccato sentences and irrelevant words, and finally seemed to
realise that the game was up. "I can't go on like this," he concluded,
in a shrill undertone. "I ought not to have tried to talk like this. It
upsets the mechanism. I wasn't meant for this sort of thing. I must go
now."
He began to grow dim. Arthur, instinctively polite, stretched out
a hand, keeping his left arm round Rose. The Clockwork man veered
slightly forward. He seemed to realise Arthur's intention and offered a
vibrating hand. But they missed each other by several days.
"Oh, don't you see?" the faint voice asseverated.
"But what are we to do?" said Arthur, raising his voice. "Tell us what
we must do to avoid following you?"
"I don't know." The thin voice sounded like someone shouting in the
distance. "How should I know? It's all so difficult. But don't make it
more difficult than you can help. Keep smiling--laughter--such a jolly
little world."
He was fading rapidly.
"Come back," shouted Arthur, scarcely knowing why he was so in earnest.
"You must come back and tell us."
"Wallabaloo," echoed through the months. "Wum--wum--"
"What's that," Rose exclaimed, suddenly awakened.
"Hark," said Arthur, clutching her tightly. "Be quiet--I want to listen
for something."
"Nine and ninepence--" he heard at last, very thin and distinct. And
then there was stillness.