Mrs. Dowson stood in the doorway of Arthur’s room and buttoned the cuff on the sleeve of her pink blouse. There had been a button missing but Marie had replaced it, despite all the work she had to do, the cooking, cleaning, and all the other house work. Marie was a treasure — that is how Mrs. Dowson’s mother would have described her. Mrs. Dowson crossed Arthur’s room to the mantel where the Seth Thomas clock was located. She tried to set the time; the clock has stopped at two o’clock. It was a lost effort, however, as the brass key which had been under the clock was missing.

“I hope you slept well, Arthur,” Mrs. Dowson said. “Toward morning, I put on the light blanket and turned on the radio to listen to some music. It was an hour before I got back to sleep. “The days are longer,” she tol…