Page:Arthur Stringer-The Loom of Destiny.djvu/133

This page has been proofread, but needs to be validated.

The Honour of Hummerley

and pickles, and oranges, and cakes, that he used to get a stomach-ache four days out of seven.

Of course, it was all different when Hal came home from Princeton. Hal was such a jolly fellow and did whatever he liked. He had taught Tiddlywinks how to put, and used to take him riding and show him how to smoke, and laughed uproariously whenever he choked. Tiddlywinks, indeed, loved Hal so much that three times he had smoked himself sick, when Hal had shown Lees-Smith what a jolly fine smoker Tiddlywinks was, all for Hal's sake. Besides this, he had shot off Hal's gun five times, and had even been allowed to go fishing with him, and pull in the little ones, which sometimes were awfully hard to get. The three times that Tiddlywinks had made up his mind to run away and be a Spanish Pirate, or some other awful Being, and was caught each time and put to bed in disgrace, were not, you may know, when Hal was at home. Hal even used to make his mamma allow Tiddlywinks to stay up at night and listen while they sang, for

121