As I entered the little town, I came upon two of the fishermen’s wives interchanging that last word “which never was the last”: and it occurred to me, as an experiment with the Magic Watch, to wait till the little scene was over, and then to ‘encore’ it. “Well, good night t’ye! And ye winna forget to send us word when your Martha writes?” “Nay, ah winna forget. An’ if she isn’t suited, she can but coom back. Good night t’ye!” A casual observer might have thought “and there ends the dialogue!” That casual observer would have been mistaken. “Ah, she’ll like ’em, I war’n’ ye! _They’ll_ not treat her bad, yer may depend. They’re varry canny fowk. Good night!” “Ay, they _are_ that! Good night!” “Good night! And ye’ll send us word if she writes?” “Aye, ah will, yer may depend! Good night t’ye!” And at last they parted. I waited till they were some twenty yards apart, and then put the Watch a minute back. The instantaneous change was startling: the two figures seemed to flash back into their former places. “—isn’t suited, she can but coom back. Good night t’ye!” one of them was saying: and so the whole dialogue was repeated, and, when they had parted for the second time, I let them go their several ways, and strolled on through the town. “But the real usefulness of this magic power,” I thought, “would be to undo some harm, some painful event, some accident——” I had not long to wait for an opportunity of testing _this_ property also of the Magic Watch, for, even as the thought passed through my mind, the accident I was imagining occurred. A light cart was standing at the door of the ‘Great Millinery Depôt’ of Elveston, laden with card-board packing-cases, which the driver was carrying into the shop, one by one. One of the cases had fallen into the street, but it scarcely seemed worth while to step forward and pick it up, as the man would be back again in a moment. Yet, in that moment, a young man riding a bicycle came sharp round the corner of the street and, in trying to avoid running over the box, upset his machine, and was thrown headlong against the wheel of the spring-cart. The driver ran out to his assistance, and he and I together raised the unfortunate cyclist and carried him into the shop. His head was cut and bleeding; and one knee seemed to be badly injured; and it was speedily settled that he had better be conveyed at once to the only Surgery in the place. I helped them in emptying the cart, and placing in it some pillows for the wounded man to rest on; and it was only when the driver had mounted to his place, and was starting for the Surgery, that I bethought me of the strange power I possessed of undoing all this harm. “Now is my time!” I said to myself, as I moved back the hand of the Watch, and saw, almost without surprise this time, all things restored to the places they had occupied at the critical moment when I had first noticed the fallen packing-case.