Shoes toed a line

[Johnyxxx]

Hello.

I am not sure if I get the meaning of the bold text. Does it mean "there was a row of shoes the toes of which made an imaginary line?"

Ann was not there. She was not in the sitting room. Not in the ridiculous little kitchenette. Not in the bath. Ann was not anywhere. He looked for a note and found none. The phone had been returned carefully to its cradle. He looked in the closet. Ann's coat was on its hanger, her pert little red hat on the shelf. Slips and dresses hung neatly. Several pairs of shoes toed an invisible line on the floor. What had Ann worn when she went out? Where had she gone? He went slowly back to the cab, a haunting fear nagging at his mind. Since leaving Ann, he had not been stalked by the building. He felt all of a sudden as if a great load were gone from his mind. What did that mean? He was not even interested in speculating about the building.

Manly Banister, Six Flights to Terror, 1946.


Thank you.

 

[emsr2d2]

It means they were lined up very neatly. The toe of each shoe was aligned with the next, as if someone had drawn a line on the floor and then the shoes had been lined up so the toes touched that line.

 

[Johnyxxx]

Yes, that is exactly what I was thinking, but probably I expressed myself badly. I must get better in trying to express myself.

Thank you very much for helping me.

 

[Tdol]

It also hints of the idiom toe the line. This comes from lines drawn on the floor of the British House of Commons. The lines are far enough apart for you not to be able to stab something on the other side of the House with a sword- you have to toe line, by standing on the right side of it. Politics used to be even rougher than it is today.