When the new wore off his grandfather’s watch, and carrying it became a day’sburdensome task, Jem no longer felt the necessity of ascertaining the hour every fiveminutes.

He did a fair job, only one spring and two tiny pieces left over, but the watch would notrun. “Oh-h,” he sighed, “it’ll never go. Scout—?”

“Huh?”

“You reckon we oughta write a letter to whoever’s leaving us these things?”

“That’d be right nice, Jem, we can thank ‘em—what’s wrong?”

Jem was holding his ears, shaking his head from side to side. “I don’t get it, I just don’tget it—I don’t know why, Scout…” He looked toward the livingroom. “I’ve gotta goodmind to tell Atticus—no, I reckon not.”

阿迪克斯说如果是新的，表、小刀、链子三件合起来大概值十美元。“你们在学校和谁交换的吗?”他问。

“不，不是的，爸爸。”杰姆掏出爷爷用过的怀表，这是阿迪克斯让他带的，每星期一次，条件是他要小心。每逢带表的日子，杰姆走起路来小心翼翼。“阿迪克斯，要是你没意见，我想要这一个，说不定我能修好。”

爷爷的表变旧了，而且戴了它成了一天的负担，杰姆不再感到有必要每隔五分钟看一次时间了。

他把表好好地修理了一下，只剩下一个弹簧和两个小零件没去理会，但表却还是不走。“嗐，”他叹了口气，“永远也走不了了。斯各特……”