Page:Arthur Stringer-The Loom of Destiny.djvu/203

The Heart's Desire the black coat diplomatically dropped a quarter into the youngster's hand. Teddie was thinking of other things, and never knew it. The last words of the Angel went singing through his veins. He did not see the fatal quarter until the carriage rolled out of sight far down the Avenue. When he beheld the coin, and realised what had been done, his flush was even deeper than before. He inwardly cursed the man in the black coat. She would think he was a beggar. He was disgraced in the Angel's eyes.

When he got back to Perkins Place he secretly dug a hole, three feet deep, and in the bottom of that hole he put the accursed quarter. On it he piled seven brickbats and flung four old boots and three empty tomato cans. Then he shovelled in stones and earth, stamping it all down savagely and vindictively.

The flower he placed in an empty castor-oil bottle, and watered it for days with infinite care.

For the rest of that week his mind was troubled with strange things. When Sniffins 191