The gold watch was talking to the silver watch and the gun-metal watch.
“Well, I’m bright in a way,” said the gold watch, “because I am of gold. But I will tell you first of all why I have done dreadful things—such as to lose and gain time in a reckless way.
“I was made to look expensive. I cost a lot of money—that is, I cost a good deal of money. The creature who made me, and the one who had me made were more anxious to make me look well than to have me act well.
“They didn’t care what happened to me once I was sold and they sold me for less than they usually would sell a gold watch for because I was so cheaply made inside.
“Of course in truth I was very expensive, for I wasn’t worth my price and that makes an object most tremendously expensive.
“Well, you see, my works were very poor. I was nervous and not well and strong and so I couldn’t go steadily. One day I’d feel very fine and I’d go dashing ahead, trying to make up for lost time. That, of course, a poor watch can never do. It has never been expected of a watch and so a watch shouldn’t try to do it.
“Time goes right on no matter what we may do. But you see I would be so silly. I would go ahead so fast that it was as bad as though I lost time.
“Many were the times when I felt so down-hearted that I just dragged the hours away—and lost lots of time. The whole trouble was that I was trying to pretend that I was something I wasn’t. And that never does. If a creature is what it is and isn’t trying to be something else, then it is all right.
“I was trying to act like a fine gold watch and I was really a poor gold watch. I was a humbug, but it wasn’t my fault. It was the fault of the people who made me. Anyway, now I am here to be fixed up so I can be what I pretend to be—a timekeeper. But there are people who don’t appreciate moments! Oh, wasted moments are such a pity when people could make so much use of them in working or playing—anything but wasting them! That is what I think is the greatest pity of all.”