Page:Arthur Stringer-The Loom of Destiny.djvu/187

An Essay in Equality "I've been thick!" said the boy in velvet, in a weak and doleful voice.

"Was you?" said the owner of the puddle, indifferently. That seemed an enviable distinction to the Alley boy. He thought it was uttered in the form of a challenge. So with a show of infinite pride he stooped to fix his vessel's bowsprit.

"Yeth, I've been dreffully, dreffully thick," wailed the boy in velvet, gazing with hungry eyes on the shingle boat, the mud, and the water.

"Yes, he 'as, you little pug-nosed himp of filth, and it was you as done it!" cried the red-faced nurse. "Whitney Algernon 'Olland, you come 'ere. Don't you dare to talk to the likes of 'im. 'E ain't fit comp'ny for you! 'E's only a dirty little thievin' street-arab, and it was 'im as nearly killed you. Come along, Whitney Algernon 'Olland, or nurse'll go straight 'ome and tell your mamma!"

She cast a withering look on the owner of the puddle, seized the boy in velvet, and dragged him off. The boy in velvet did not 175