Alex woke up bright and early to the bird sounds outside and the sounds of the Clemens household inside. Breakfast smells wafted through the house. People in these times certainly know a thing or two about how to do breakfast properly, she thought.
However, Alex's thoughts quickly returned to the most important problem. She did not know exactly what would happen at the time of Susy's carriage accident. She did not know the time, and knew only that the day would be today or tomorrow. As the people in Sandorra explained to her, the simple fact of her being here was already starting to change history, so things could not be predicted exactly. Just because something was recorded in history as happening in a certain way or at a certain time, if an observer from the future was there, things might (and probably would) change slightly.
Once again, Alex thought about the possibility of simply telling Susy or her parents everything, but she knew that they'd probably think she was crazy. Still trapped in the same dilemma, Alex knew that all she could do was be near Susy as much as possible, be alert to the dangers of a carriage accident, and try to influence in some way the events as they might happen.
Alex washed and dressed and went downstairs to the kitchen, where a fine breakfast was laid out. Jean was sitting at the table, drinking milk and working on a fine white milk-moustache. Katy Leary was busy cooking.
Alex sat beside Jean, who immediately began telling her an involved story that Mr. Clemens had told her, but Alex was totally unable to follow the tale, so she listened politely and tried to react at the proper time. Katy smiled to herself, listening to Jean try so hard to get the story right. She arrived at the punch line (Alex guessed) and laughed. Alex also laughed, though it was more at Jean's style and delivery, rather than at the puzzling contents of the story itself.
Clara and Susy came down together, and both seemed very cheerful this morning. "Our Aunt Susan is coming today," Clara said. "She's from Elmira, New York. We usually spend every summer at her farm, so that Papa can get some work done without being bothered by all of us all the time. But this year she's coming here for a week, instead."
"She's really nice," Susy added. "I know you'll like her."
"Today, because you're here, Mama excused us from our German lessons," Clara said. "So now we're even more happy you're here."
"Aren't your parents having breakfast?" Alex asked.
"No, it's much too early for them. They never come down until about eleven o'clock," Clara answered.
The girls finished their breakfast, and cleared the table as Katy washed the dishes. Then, when the kitchen was cleaned, Katy excused the girls and they ran outside. The day was still cool, and they returned to their badminton game of the previous day.
Susy seemed much less distracted today, and Clara said nothing more about the stranger. The game was more interesting today, since the three older girls took turns being Jean's partner. Jean didn't seem to catch on to the reason for this rotation, and threw herself into this game as vigorously as she did everything else.
Mr. Clemens came out and joined them for a while, but he was no better than Jean at the game. He fanned the air mightily, though he did very little damage to the birdie. The game was falling apart as the girls laughed at his clowning. Mrs. Clemens watched from beneath a tall tree, and thoroughly enjoyed the performance.
The game continued all morning, with several lemonade breaks, until Katy called them once again for lunch on the Ombra. Mr. and Mrs. Clemens joined them for lunch. All the players ate heartily, famished from the game.
After lunch, Jean pleaded, "Papa, tell Alexandra the story of the Golden Arm." This was a story that Sam Clemens often used to conclude his lectures, and it ended with him jumping suddenly and shouting, startling his audience which had grown used to his slow, quiet drawl. As usual, even though the girls had heard the story many times before, they all jumped, especially Alex. Jean jumped and giggled at the same time.
"That's a wonderful story," Alex said. "But I'm sure that no one else can tell it the way you do."
Susy looked at Alex with a smile, aware that Alex was intentionally flattering her father, as she had so often done herself. It worked, however, and Mr. Clemens beamed with pleasure.
Katy came onto the porch and told Mr. Clemens that "Mr. Wilhelm is here for your riding lesson, heaven help us." Mr. Clemens rose with a groan and stepped down from the porch. He followed the driveway back to the stable, and Alex could see him rummaging about inside.
Clara said to Alex, "You've just got to see this, but whatever you do, don't laugh." Puzzled, Alex sat on the porch steps alongside the Clemens girls, all looking very serious.
Mr. Clemens came back out of the stable, along with a bearded blond young man, wheeling a high-wheeler bicycle. The front wheel was as high as his shoulder. The bicycle was all black and looked rather delicate.
"That's Mr. Wilhelm," Susy whispered. "He's been coming here for three weeks now, ever since Papa got it in his head to learn to ride that thing."
Mr. Wilhelm leaned the bicycle against the stable. Mr. Clemens stepped up onto the lower part of the frame, then triumphantly swung his body about and sat on the narrow black seat.
"He's mastered that part," Clara said. "From here on, though, it's nothing but trouble. Get ready, because our role is coming up soon."
Mr. Wilhelm helped guide the bicycle fully upright and away from the stable. The front wheel began to shake somewhat. Mr. Wilhelm began to shout "Easy now, easy now, keep him steady" in a thick German accent. Together, the two men guided the beast away from the stable, then began to move faster, with Mr. Wilhelm's hand still holding the frame. "Das ist gut, steady now" he shouted, as the front wheel began to shake a little more.
The bicycle was going fast enough now that Mr. Wilhelm let go, and stopped running alongside. Mr. Clemens yelled "I think I've got it now", and guided the bicycle the length of the driveway. The shaking of the front wheel was even more pronounced. "Get ready," Jean whispered to Alex.
Near the end of the driveway, Mr. Clemens attempted to turn, to avoid going into the street. Half the turn worked, until Mr. Clemens was going parallel to the high hedge along the street. Then, very slowly, very gracefully the bicycle tipped over, and he landed in the hedge, underneath the bicycle. From inside the hedge came a muffled "Damn." Everyone, including Alex and Mr. Wilhelm, ran to the hedge to help. Mr. Wilhelm carefully lifted away the bicycle and the girls helped Mr. Clemens to his feet. "I almost had it that time," he growled.
No one said anything except Mr. Wilhelm, who said "Mr. Clemens, you can fall off a bicycle more ways than the man who invented it." With that, and a look of disdain, he walked the bicycle back to the stable.
Mr. Clemens, along with Mrs. Clemens, went inside to clean up.
"I hope Mama didn't hear him say that word," Jean said. When Alex asked why, Jean said "Mama's been trying to make Papa stop swearing ever since she first met him."
"She'll never do it," Susy said. "A few weeks ago, on a Sunday morning, Papa was getting dressed. The first shirt he tried on was missing a button. Because of his temper, he threw it out the window, and said something he shouldn't have. Mama was there, but didn't say anything. Then he tried a second shirt, and it had a missing button, too, so he threw that one out the window. Then there was a third shirt with a missing button, and he threw that one out the window and really started swearing."
Clara said, "To teach him a lesson, Mama did something she never does: she repeated all the swear words that Papa had just said. But it just didn't sound right when she said it. So Papa just broke out laughing and said 'Livy, you've got the words but you just don't know the tune'."
At that moment, there was a loud throat-clearing behind them, and all the girls turned at once. Mr. Clemens stood there with his hands on his hips and said "I didn't know you knew that story."
Jean suddenly shouted "Here comes Aunt Susan" as she spotted a carriage, drawn by two gigantic black horses, jingling down the street. Alex and the Clemens family quickly rose and walked down the driveway to meet the coach. Clara and Jean ran to the street, Mr. and Mrs. Clemens followed closely behind, and Alex and Susy brought up the rear. Alex was determined to stay as close to Susy as possible.
On the sidewalk, Alex and Susy stood on the right side of the driveway, the direction from which the coach was coming. On the left side stood Clara and Jean and their parents. There were only seconds to wait until the coach was to turn into the driveway, when all of a sudden Alex noticed the stranger walking quickly to catch up with the carriage. Alex started to call "Watch out" to Susy, when the stranger burst into a run and almost caught up with the horses. It was Mr. Strong, the sullen man from the rooming house! At the same moment, so quickly that everything seemed to be happening at once, she saw Harry Lightcap burst out of the bushes across the street, chasing Goldenrod ahead of him, right into the path of the horses.
Both horses reared up and whinnied loudly in fear. They turned away from the barking dog, and headed right for Susy! Without thinking, Alex rushed forward and grabbed at the horses' reins, at the same moment that Mr. Strong also caught at the harness. They managed to slow down the rush of the horses, but the nearer horse stepped sideways and knocked Susy to the ground. As she fell, Alex saw her head hit the curbing along the sidewalk. Alex cried out, realizing that her mission had failed, and moving toward Susy's body, when suddenly an immense weight hit her and flung her to the ground. Her last conscious thought was terrible grief at Susy's death.