(The gesture was magnificent)
“‘In praise we nobly give what God may take,
And are without a beggar’s blush forgiven.’
“—Confound these trams!”
The old clergyman shook hands with Taffy in some haste. “And when you reach home give my respects to your father. Stay, you don’t know my name. Here is my card, or you’ll forget it.”
“Mine, too,” said Velvet-cap.
Taffy stood staring after them as they walked off down the lane which skirts the Botanical Gardens. The names on the two cards were famous ones, as even he knew. He walked back toward Trinity a proud and happy boy. Half-way up Queen’s Lane, finding himself between blank walls, with nobody in sight, he even skipped.
CHAPTER XX.
TAFFY GIVES A PROMISE.
The postman halted by the foot-bridge and blew his horn. The sound sent the rabbits scampering into their burrows; and just as they began to pop out again, Taffy came charging across the slope. Whereupon they drew back their noses in disgust, and to avoid the sand scattered by his toes.
The postman held up a blue envelope and waved it. “Here, ’tis come, at last!”
“It may not be good news,” said Taffy, clutching it, and then turning it over in his hand.