aid this person. "Besides, I
wish to do you a good turn. My name is Time."

Pet dropped a trembling courtesy.

"You need not be afraid of me," continued the stranger, "as you have
never yet abused me. It is only those who are trying to kill me who have
cause to fear me."

"Indeed, sir, I wish to be good to every person," said Pet.

"I know you do," said Time, "and that is why I am bound to help you. The
thing you want most is a precious jewel called Experience. You are going
now in search of it; yes, you are, though you do not know anything about
it as yet. You will know it after you have found it. Now, I am going to
give you some instructions."

"Thank you, sir," said Pet, who was delighted to find that he was not a
government, and had no intention of bringing her back to her nursery.

"First of all I must tell you," said Time, "that you have a precious
gift which was born with you: it is the power of entering into other
people whenever you wish, living their lives, thinking their thoughts,
and seeing everything as they see it."

"How nice!" cried Pet.

"It is a most useful gift if properly cultivated," said Time, "and it
will certainly help you to gain your jewel. Now, whenever you find a
person whose life you would wish to know all about for your own
instruction, you have only to wish, and immediately your existence will
pass into theirs."

"And shall I ever get out again?" asked Pet, who had an inveterate
dislike of all imprisonment.

"I am going to tell you about that," said Time. "You must not remain too
long locked up in anybody. Here is a curious tiny clock, with a little
gold key, and you must take them with you and be very careful of them.
Whenever you find that you have passed into somebody else, you must at
once wind up your clock and hang it somewhere so that you can see it as
you go about. The clock will go for a month, and as soon as it runs down
and stops, you will be changed back into your separate self again. A
month will be long enough for you to live in each person."

"Oh, thank you, thank you," cried Pet, seizing the clock.

"One thing you must be sure not to forget," said Time, "so attend to me
well. There is a mysterious sympathy between you and the clock and the
little gold key, and if you lose the key after the clock is wound up the
clock will go on forever, or at least until you find the key again. So
if you do not want to be shut up in somebody to the end of your life, be
carefu