Page:Arthur Stringer-The Loom of Destiny.djvu/200

The Loom of Destiny the scruff of the neck of his ragged little coat, but each time the intruder had edged persistently back. Now that the guests were coming from the house the fat policeman did not care to keep up the undignified combat, so Teddie remained.

Many of the figures that stepped past were familiar to him. Among the last persons to come away was the short man with the white whiskers, who always wore the gold cross on his coat, and then the tall, white-faced woman who always rustled louder than all the others, and of whom the child was more or less afraid. Teddie remembered them all. Then a man with a long black coat and boots that shone very funnily came down the steps walking with a girl in white, with lilac-blossoms and lorgnettes. Teddie had not seen the tall girl in white go in. She was a new one! She must have come before he did.

The freckled nose squeezed further in between the iron bars. It was like finding a new friend, or discovering a new world, and his eyes drank in every detail. 188