Page:The New-Year's Bargain (1884).djvu/25

 but I'm a little behind hand with the others."

As he spoke, he turned again to his task.

"And what is this stuff you are making them of?" inquired Max, dipping his finger in the sparkling liquid.

The old man fixed upon him a fiery eye.

"Don't meddle with that, boy!" said he, in a severe tone: "nobody can touch those drops safely but myself. That is water from the stream of Time."

"And these?" asked Thekla, pointing to the second jar.

"Those are what you know as 'moments,' was the reply. "They are really the dust of dead years, though somebody or other has given them the name of 'sands of Time.' Pretty things they are, but they won't keep. Everybody in the world can have one at a time, but nobody can lay up a stock for next day. I'm the only person to whom that is allowed."

Just then a naughty idea entered into Max's head. "We'11 see whether that is true," he mut-