Page:Arthur Stringer-The Loom of Destiny.djvu/204

The Loom of Destiny came and kicked him, he did not even try to kick him back; which conduct made Sniffins ask if he was sick.

A perceptible change crept over Teddie. His life had flowered into its first love. Night after night he dreamed of Angels with grey eyes and lorgnettes, and sometimes of a man in a long black coat. The tails of this coat in the dream would always grow longer and longer and thinner and thinner, until the man turned into the Evil One and crawled hungrily up and down Perkins Place on all fours, looking for something he could never seem to find.

By day Teddie trudged up and down the Avenue like one in a dream, watching out always for one particular carriage. Whenever this one carriage bowled past him, an intoxicating tingling fear seized on his limbs, and left him staring blankly after it from the curb.

But no sign could he ever get from the Angel as she swept by. Once he even grew so bold as to climb up behind her victoria, intending to show his face over the back 192