The Jack-Knife Man by Ellis Parker Butler

For a man who means to walk it, considering the usual state of the river-road in spring, the railway is the best path between Riverbank and Widow Potter's farm, and Peter, leaving the town, took to the railway track. He had, he assured himself, a definite purpose in visiting Mrs. Potter. She had expressed her views of a man who fell so low as to pawn his goods and chattels, and the wound still rankled, and Peter meant to have back his alarm-clock. That, he repeated to himself, was why he was going to Mrs. Potter's, but in his heart he knew this was not so -- he wanted to see Buddy. He wanted, before the boy forgot him, to reestablish for a moment the old ties. In short, he was jealous of Mrs. Potter.

As he walked up the track he planned the interview in advance. "Mrs. Potter," he would say, "I have come to get my clock. Here is the money, and I'm sorry I had to trouble you to keep it so long. " Then he would lay the money on the kitchen table, and Mrs. Potter, slightly awed by his new clothes, would hand him the clock. "And if possible," he would say then, "I'd like to speak with Buddy a few minutes. " Mrs. Potter would then call Buddy.