"Well, then," I said, and I threw myself, quite heart-broken, into a chair, "come at twelve o'clock, when the money is due, and in the mean time I will see if I can get my friends to help me."
"It is twelve o'clock now," said Pretzel.
"Nay," I replied, looking round at my clocks, which were ticking merrily away, "it wants exactly two hours to noon. The correct time is five minutes to ten."
"By my watch," said Pretzel, pulling it out of his pocket, "it is exactly five minutes to twelve."
I looked at his watch; the hands pointed to five minutes to twelve; there was no disputing it.
"Your watch is wrong," I said; "it is two hours fast."
"I say nothing to that," said Pretzel, eagerly watching the second hands," you yourself have regulated it for several months past."
"Twenty-two times I have regulated it," I said, "and yesterday it was in perfect order."
"One minute gone," said Pretzel; "four minutes to twelve. I demand my money, my three thousand florins!"
"Your watch is two hours fast; how it came so Heaven only knows. You cannot demand your money till twelve o'clock by the right time."