Splendors and Glooms Chapter 5 Summary

Grisini

  • As Clara is going up the stairs to her room, she finds a gold watch on one of the steps. Instead of two normal clock hands, though, there's a golden wolf and a silver swan moving around the watch face. Cool.
  • She's fascinated and stares at it until someone calls out to her. She turns to see Grisini, who tells her that he's lost his automaton watch and needs help finding it.
  • She tells him that she found it and holds it out. He shows her that 6 o'clock is about to strike, and when that happens, the wolf will snap its mouth and the swan will flap its wings and fly just out of reach. Pretty cool, huh?
  • He asks Clara if she wants the watch as a gift, but Clara says no. Something about this is making her feel uncomfortable.
  • Then, he talks about how her mother was so horrified earlier because Clara was laughing at death. Now, she feels even worse about the whole thing. He points at her locket and asks if she likes it.
  • Clara lies and says that she does. He then asks to see what's inside, so she pulls off the locket and holds it out to him.
  • Inside is a tiny picture of a weeping willow with each branch made out of a snippet of human hair. It's all from her dead brothers and sisters.
  • Grisini tells her that he knows what she really wants to do—which is to stop mourning and weeping all the time and dance instead. He whispers something to her, but she can't make out what he's saying.
  • Then, the watch strikes again, and she looks down to see that she's holding it again. When she looks up, Grisini has disappeared.