Page:Arthur Stringer-The Loom of Destiny.djvu/131

The Honour of Hummerley and always be good to her and make her happy. Being the only man at home, his father went on with mock-seriousness, it was expected that he, Tiddlywinks, should carry out these last despatches and duly deliver the said mamma safely over into his hands at the end of the two years. All of this the weeping and unhappy Tiddlywinks took with the utmost seriousness, and solemnly promised to do, even though his father laughed as he bent down and kissed Tiddlywinks' mamma on the cheek, as the brougham came round the drive and the boxes were piled on the seat.

Tiddlywinks finished his weep, nevertheless, for he loved his father with a mighty love, and his heart was aching with the thought of being left alone in the big house. He knew that as soon as Hal went back to Princeton a terrible loneliness would settle down on that homestead of Hummerley. He was not really alone, of course, but then, he had always been half afraid of his mamma, who always wore the most wonderful and beautiful dresses, and had never been the same to him since the summer she left him 119