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TOMMY TREGENNIS
BY MARY E. PHILLIPS
ILLUSTRATED BY M. V. WHEELHOUSE
Tommy Tregennis
by Mary E. Phillips
Illustrated by M. V. Wheelhouse
NEW YORK
E·P·DUTTON & COMPANY
PUBLISHERS
LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS
| Facing page | |
| Still the ladies talked only to Mammy | 20 |
| When breakfast was over, Tommy led Dobbin proudly up and down the alley | 24 |
| “My lamb,” she murmured, “my own precious lamb” | 50 |
| It was very slow progress that the two made along the uneven cobbles | 94 |
| Towards evening Mrs Tregennis grew restless and uneasy, and went down to the front and looked out anxiously over the angry sea | 122 |
| At the Cobbler’s window she stopped | 152 |
| On the day of Granny’s funeral, Old John took care of Tommy | 186 |
TOMMY TREGENNIS
CHAPTER I
THERE was Daddy, of course, and Mammy and home. Outside home was theworld, and the world was a stretch of golden sand. It was a veryperplexing world to a small boy, for it had a trick, when one leastexpected it, of hiding under the sea. At such times the confines ofthe world narrowed, and the world itself became a succession of rockyledges entirely made up of don’t-go-there-Tommy places, and most ofthe fun was spoiled.
There was always the danger, too, in the world of rocks that clotheswould not stand the extra strain they were called upon to bear. Insliding down their sea-washed sides “Take care of your trousers, mahandsome!” was forgotten until the bottom of the rock was reached andthe mischief done. Tommy’s trousers were never very durable even inthe beginning of things, for they were made out of Mammy’s worn-outskirts and cast-off coats (all but the Sunday pair, that is) and solittle friction seemed to wear them into holes.
Just as often as the warning concerning his clothes was given him,just so often did Tommy disregard it, but never were the consequencesso disastrous as on that July evening when he walked slowly up thecobble-paved alley to his home; a boy who had lost his illusions; aboy who regarded sliding down sloping rocks as a highly over-