The Pendulum

0:00 John seized it. It was a note from his wife running thus.

0:04 Dear John, I just had a telegram saying Mother is very sick.

0:10 I'm going to take the 4.30 train.

0:12 Brother Sam is going to meet me at the depot there.

0:16 There is cold mutton in the icebox.

0:18 I hope it isn't her Quincy again.

0:21 Pay the milkman 50 cents.

0:24 She had it bad last spring.

0:26 Don't forget to write to the company about the gas meter,

0:28 and your good socks are in the top drawer.

0:32 I will write to-morrow.

0:33 Hastily, Katie.

0:37 Never during their two years of matrimony

0:40 had he and Katie been separated for a night.

0:43 John read the note over and over in a dumbfounded way.

0:47 Here was a break in a routine that never varied,

0:50 and it left him dazed.

0:52 There on the back of a chair hung,

0:55 pathetically empty and formless,

0:57 the red wrapper with black dots

0:59 that she always wore while getting the meals.

1:01 Thank you.