"Certainly not," was the reply; "you know as well as I do that the machinery requires some directing power. No one knows how to apply it: no one knows the secret."
"Yes, there is a secret," said the youth, his face brightening even through the cold, clammy prison atmosphere.
"And you cannot get out to tell it, or to arrange your own work, for here I have a schedule of the judgments for debt which have been lodged against you;" and he held out a list some twelve inches in length.
Dumiger groaned. "And are there no means of paying this?"
"You can answer that question as well as myself," replied the man. "I will tell you that there are none for the present; but there is one way in which the clock may still be the admiration of Dantzic, and yourself free with a great independence in three days."
"What way? what way? tell me quickly!" cried Dumiger, gasping with anxiety.
"Be still, young man, be still; we have plenty of time: let's proceed quietly," said the stranger.
"Well, well, but be quick," continued Dumiger, in anything but a quiet tone of voice.
"I have told you," said the man, quietly readjusting his spectacles, which Dumiger had slightly disturbed by the violence with which he seized his arm, "I have told you that I am a native of Hambro', a mechanician; that I have seen your clock, admired it, and taken the trouble to obtain a list of your liabilities,—here it is again."
Dumiger gave another groan.