LITTLE MISCHIEF.
Reading edition
VIII.
Bessie went into the parlor one day, and noticed that the clock did not tick. "I must wind it up," thought she. "It must be very easy, for you only have to turn the key round and round."
So Bessie began to turn the key. At first it would not move; but then she tried it the other way, and it went round and round quite easily. She was determined to do it thoroughly while she was about it: so she went on winding and winding, and was charmed to hear it begin to tick.
But all at once it made a noise,—burr-r-r-r,—and then it stopped ticking.
IX.
The hands, too, that had been going so fast, stood still. What could be the reason of it? Had it really stopped? Bessie put her ear quite near, and listened. Yes, there was not a sound.
She began to feel frightened, and to think that perhaps, after all, she had better have left it alone. Her mother came into the room and said, "What are you doing, Bessie? You must have broken the mainspring of the clock."
"I saw it was not going, mamma, and so I wound it up," sobbed out Bessie: "I did not mean to break it." That was all she could say.
