The Loom of Destiny
Tiddlywinks' mamma sang beautifully. Hal, of course, sang beautifully too,—but then, Hal's singing was so different. When his mamma sang it used to make him think of the angels in the window at the end of the Cathedral, only he knew that real angels did not wear lace, and would let you kiss and hug them as often as you wanted to. At least, angels never made you afraid of them, anyway.
There was one particular man, with an iron-grey moustache and thin grey hair, who used to come to dinner at Tiddlywinks' house and stay in the evenings to hear his mamma sing. Tiddlywinks hated this man with all the fervour of his childish heart. James, the coachman, once told him that this man was a General, and a greater man than his own papa,—a thing which Tiddlywinks could never believe. Still, he was very tall and very straight, and used to frown at Tiddlywinks, and then turn and smile at his mamma; and naturally the unsophisticated little Tiddlywinks always used to wonder what right this Man with the Bald Head had to look in his mamma's eyes and smile so affectionately.
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