Page:Arthur Stringer - Twin Tales.djvu/47

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

CHAPTER THREE


The old Major, a little out of breath rom the stairs, was glad of the chance to sit down and recover himself. He was also glad that he had found the roughly scrawled "Back at Two" sign on the door and the studio still empty, for when Teddie was about there was always small chance of studying anything beyond Teddie herself.

So, having returned to a normal manner of respiration, he proceeded to a quiet but none the less critical examination of the premises. He was disturbed, on the whole, by the baldness of the dingy-walled old studio with its broken and paint-spattered floor and its big north window entirely out of alignment. There was a long cherrywood table pretty well littered with brushes and paint-tubes and boxes of pastels and a wooden manikin and various

37