Knock, Knock, Knock and Other Stories

as a lieutenant of artillery, he died a glorious death on the

battlefield of Borodino in defence of the Shevardinsky redoubt.

Much water has flowed by since then and I have had many watches; I

have even attained the dignity of a real repeater with a second hand

and the days of the week on it. But in a secret drawer of my writing

table there is preserved an old-fashioned silver watch with a rose on

the face; I bought it from a Jewish pedlar, struck by its likeness to

the watch which was once presented to me by my godfather. From time to

time, when I am alone and expect no one, I take it out of the drawer

and looking at it remember my young days and the companion of those

days that have fled never to return.

Paris.--1875.