First Victories
'Please, sir, may I speak to you?'
Mr. Upton was coming out of church after a choir practice, when Teddy accosted him.
He smiled when he saw the boy. 'You may walk home with me and speak to me as much as you like.'
And so they sauntered up the shady lane, the old rector with his head bent and his hands crossed behind him, and the boy all eager excitement and motion, with suppressed importance in his tone.
'I want you to give me a name for my enemy, please, sir.'
Mr. Upton looked amused. 'Have you had any battles with him yet?'
'I think I had one yesterday. May I tell you? Granny was very angry with me because I had made Uncle Jake's best handkerchief into a banner of love. I didn't really think it was naughty. I wrote "Love" in ink right across it; and I took such pains, for I wanted to show it to Nancy. And when I got home granny was so angry that she took me by the collar and she locked me into the back kitchen; and mother was out, and I cried, I was so miserable. Granny said I would come to the workhouse; she called me the wickedest, mischievousest boy she'd ever seen, and said she would like to give me a good whipping. And at last I got tired of being miserable, and I looked about, and I saw the window was partly open, so I climbed up, and then I thought I would jump out and run away across the fields till mother came home. And I was very happy then, and I jumped right out, and then I remembered, but I didn't want to go back again.'
'And then the fight began?' suggested the rector, as the boy paused.
Teddy nodded. 'I asked God to drive my enemy away, but I was an awful long time thinking it out. Is thinking fighting?'
'Very often it is.'
'I did fight hard, then; and I climbed in again. Was that being a soldier?'
'Yes, my boy.'
'And granny let me out soon after; and I kissed her and said I was sorry, but I told her how nearly I had run away, and asked her to see that the window was locked next time, so that I shouldn't have to fight so hard.'
'You will have plenty of fighting. Don't shirk the hottest part of the field; that isn't being brave.'
'Will you give me a horrid, ugly name, please, sir?'
'I thought your enemy's name was Teddy.'
'No, that's mine; I must have a name for him—a different one, you know.'
'How do you like Ego or Ipse?'
'What funny names! I think I like Ipse best I'll call him Ipse, shall I?'
But Mr. Upton's thoughts were far away by this time, and presently he said, as if to himself, '"The last enemy that shall be destroyed is death." "Nay, in all these things we are more than conquerors, through Him that loved us." It is a fight with certain victory ahead; then why do we fail?'
'Shall I fail?' questioned a soft voice by his side.
'"Without Me ye can do nothing." That's our Captain's word: if you fight without Him, you are done for.'
'I think I shall sometimes let Ipse have his way. Will that be deserting to the enemy?'
'It will be sure and certain defeat.'
'But then, of course, my Captain won't let me be beaten, if I stick close to Him.'
And so they talked, a strange couple; but the younger of them had a faith which the elder might envy, and a grasp of the unseen that the ripest saint could not surpass.
Not long after this, Teddy and his schoolfellows were having a delightful afternoon in the woods. It was Saturday afternoon, and they were playing their favourite war game, Teddy, of course, being prime instigator of the whole affair. A few of the more adventurous girls had joined them, Nancy amongst them. Her respect for Teddy was gradually increasing, though nothing seemed to quench her self-assertion and independence of thought and action. At length Teddy announced his intention of going off on an expedition as a scout, and on Nancy's insisting that she should come too, the two children started, made their way out of the wood and down to the banks of the stream, which soon joined the river.
'What have we to do?' asked Nancy.
'It's great fun. You see, every one we meet is an enemy, and we have to get past them without them seeing us; we must crawl through the long grass, or we must climb a tree, or get through the bushes; all kinds of adventures we have.'
'And if we don't meet anybody?'
'That's why I came down this way: there are always a lot of people fishing in the river. Now look out, don't you talk loud, and step softly. Just think that the first person who sees us will shoot us dead.'
'But they won't.'
'You must make believe they will.' Teddy's tone was stern, and Nancy was too occupied in holding her hat on her head as they crept through some low bushes to advance any more sceptical opinions.
And then suddenly, a short time after, they came upon a fisherman. It was only a burly farmer, who was evidently making a day of it, for he sat under the shade of a tree with the remnants of a substantial lunch around him; his fishing-rod was in his hand, but the line was out of the water, and he, with head thrown back and mouth wide open, was fast asleep.
'Hush!' said Teddy, in an excited whisper. 'If he wakes, all is up with us; now let's get past him on tiptoe.'
This was accomplished safely; but having passed him Teddy stood still, and the spirit of mischief seized hold of him. Turning to Nancy, he said, with sparkling eyes, 'What fun to take him prisoner and tie him up to the tree with his own fishing-line! He's an enemy; I really think it's our duty to do it. You stay here and watch me.'
Deftly and quickly Teddy set to work, but when he had once passed the line round the farmer's body and the tree, he had no difficulty in finishing the work he had begun. Dancing like an elf with the line in his hand, he spun round and round the tree till the line was wound round to its very last extremity, and the farmer looked like some big bluebottle fly entangled in the fine meshes of a spider's web. Still he slept on, and with a delighted chuckle Teddy sped back to his little companion; her eyes were dancing with mirth, and she clapped her hands at the successful exploit.
'He'll wake up and won't be able to get away. What fun! how I should like to see him!'
'Come on quick. He's Farmer Green, and he's an awful angry man; he gaveSam such a thrashing for tying an old saucepan to one of his pigs' tails.He won't know who has done it, and I did tie the knots awful tight.'
Away they ran; but they had not proceeded far before Teddy came to a standstill, and all the saucy sparkle died out of his eyes.
'What's the matter?' asked Nancy. 'Have you got a pain?'
'I'm afraid I am going to have a fight with Ipse.'
The words were uttered almost in a whisper, and Nancy looked on with wonder.
'It isn't right,' he said, after a long pause. 'I do want—at least, Ipse wants—to leave him there awfully, but mother would say it was very naughty, and I think—I think my Captain doesn't like it. I shall have to go back and undo him.'
'Oh, you mustn't!' cried Nancy. 'You'll wake him up, and then you'll catch it! Let him undo himself!' Teddy shook his head, and then stole softly back to the tree, Nancy following him at a respectful distance.
It seemed a harder business to untie the knots than to tie them, but at length it was done, and the unwinding process began. Alas! Farmer Green's nap was over, and with a hasty start he was roused to the full use of his faculties. When he discovered his condition he swore a round oath, and turned upon Teddy in great wrath, as he vainly tried to extricate himself.
'Please, sir,' said Teddy, nothing daunted, 'if you keep still, I shall undo you very soon, and I won't break your line if I can help it.'
'You young scoundrel! how dare you show your face, after such an audacious piece of impudence! You're the plague of the parish, and a good thrashing is what you will get, sure as my name's Jonathan Green!'
Teddy's face was hot and red, and the spectacle of him trying to unwind the line from the struggling and exasperated farmer was so irresistibly comic to Nancy that she burst out laughing.
Jonathan Green was soon on his feet again, and seizing hold of Teddy by the collar, shook him like a terrier would shake a rat; then, without leaving go of him, he pulled out a piece of cord from his coat pocket. 'Now, I'll teach you a lesson, youngster, that you won't forget. It's lucky I've got this bit o' rope.'
And in another few minutes he had bound the boy securely to the tree, tying his hands together with his handkerchief; then, as Nancy stepped forward, indignant at this severe treatment, he turned upon her.
'There are two of you, are there? Well, you shall share the same fate till I think fit to release you. I'll teach you to stop playing such impish tricks on decent folk.'
'You're the wickedest man that's living, I'm sure!' cried Nancy wrathfully. 'Why, he was undoing you when you woke up, which was very kind of him. I wish he'd left you tied up, I do!'
But Farmer Green, with a grim smile of satisfaction, soon settled her in the same fashion as he had done the boy; and then, picking up his fishing-basket, strode away, calling out, 'Ye'll bide there my time, ye young limbs of mischief! It's only serving like ye serve!'
'Button-boy, did he hurt you?' asked Nancy anxiously; for all this timeTeddy had not said a word.
He turned his head and looked at her. 'I feel shooken up dreadful, he's so awful strong; but I'm not very hurt, only I'm sorry, and I've been telling my Captain about it, and asking Him to forgive me.'
'Shall we stay here all the evening and all the night?'
'Oh no! he'll come and let us go soon. It isn't fair on you, for you didn't do anything.'
'I laughed at him, and I wanted you to leave him tied up. But I don't care, it doesn't hurt. You haven't told me ever what I asked you about Jesus' sailors. Tell me now, because I want to belong to your Captain, and I'm not going to be a soldier.'
'I did ask mother, and she said sailors were soldiers, they were sea soldiers. You'll have to be a soldier, I expect.'
'Sailors fight, I know they do. Grandfather read me about Nelson the other evening, and showed me a picture of sailors cutting the enemy's arms off, as they tried to scramble on board ship. I shan't never change to soldiers. Sailors aremuchnicer. And if sailors fight, I can be a sailor for Jesus.'
Their conversation was interrupted by voices and steps approaching, and in another moment two ladies and a gentleman appeared, evidently going home after a fishing excursion. The path led past the tree, and they stopped in astonishment at the sight of the two children.
Teddy was the first to speak. He recognised the newcomers to be the squire, Colonel Graham, and his wife, with a visitor staying with them. 'Please, sir, will you undo us?' he asked appealingly.
The colonel laughed heartily. 'Ah! young fellow, you're caught, are you? Lady Helen, this is one of the young hopefuls in our village, I have been told the ringleader in every bit of mischief set going! You wouldn't think it to look at him, would you?'
'What an angel's face!' said that lady admiringly. 'And who is the little girl? she looks a regular little gipsy!'
Neither of the children appreciated these remarks, but the colonel good-naturedly put down his fishing-basket and cut the piece of rope that bound them.
'Now, then, youngster!' he said, 'speak up and tell us who bound you in this fashion, and what have you been doing to merit such punishment?'
Having got his hands free, Teddy stood up bravely and told the story briefly and clearly, to the great amusement of his hearers.
'And he would never have been caught if he hadn't gone back to undo him,' put in Nancy; 'so he oughtn't to have been punished at all.'
'What made you go back, my boy?' asked Mrs. Graham gently.
The colour rose in Teddy's cheeks, but he never hesitated to speak the truth.
'I went back when I remembered it was wrong to have done it,' he said simply.
'But you are not such a paragon of goodness generally,' said the colonel. 'Wasn't it you and some others who scared our dairymaid into fits one night last winter, by playing pranks, after dark, outside the dairy window?'
'Yes, sir,' said Teddy humbly.
'And why didn't you run away when the old man woke?' asked Lady Helen.
'I never run away from anybody,' said Teddy, his head more erect than ever. 'I'm a soldier's son.'
'Capital, my boy; and so your father is a soldier? What regiment?'
'He's dead, sir. May I tell you father's story?'
'Oh! ah! I remember now, though I'm not sure that I recollect the details,' said the colonel musingly. 'Your father was John Platt, who enlisted in one of the line regiments—the 24th, wasn't it? Tell us the story by all means.'
Teddy obeyed delightedly, not seeing in the interest of his tale how keenly he was being watched by the ladies. He told it as he always did, with enthusiastic effect, and when he offered to show the ladies his button they were charmed with him. The colonel patted him on his head as he left, saying, 'Keep your father's spirit in you, my lad, and you'll live to do something great yet!' 'I should like to have him as a page-boy,' said Lady Helen, as they walked away. 'What a sensitive, refined little face it is!'
'Too good to be spoilt by house service,' said Colonel Graham. 'His mother is a superior young woman, with a very good education, and the Platts are highly respected about here.'
The children ran back to their playfellows considerably sobered by their experience, and Teddy very soon made his way home, and told his mother all that had befallen him.
'It's dreadful difficult to remember in time, mother. I'm not a very good soldier, am I? Do you think I ought to love old Farmer Green? If you won't tell any one, I've been having a talk with Ipse—he's my enemy, Mr. Upton told me about—and he—he hates Farmer Green; but I tell him the banner is "Love," and we must try to love him; and how can I show him I love him, mother?'
'I think you must wait a little, sonny. Don't do anything just yet, but try and not have angry thoughts about him. You know it was very naughty of you to act so. I am not a bit surprised that he lost his temper over it.'
'I'll never tie up anybody again, mother, never!'
The Redcoats
'Mother, grandmother, some soldiers are coming here!'
Teddy tore into the house one morning after school with this announcement, and his face was radiant with delight. His mother was laying the cloth for dinner, and old Mrs. Platt was busy dishing up some potatoes.
'Who told you?' asked the latter.
'I saw one—a real live soldier, a corporal with two gold stripes on his red coat, and such white gloves; and I went up to him and talked to him.'
'Certainly modesty is lacking with you,' observed Mrs. Platt drily.
'Shyness is,' said Mrs. John rather quickly; 'but he doesn't show forwardness as a rule.'
'Sam and Carrots and lots of the boys were with me, mother. He told us that he and one or two more had come on to get billets—that's the word—billets for the regiment that was marching through on their way to Wales; and we shall see them come marching through the village in a few days. He said most of them were going to put up in the town, but twenty were coming to the Hare and Hounds, and they're going to sleep there. He's such a nice man, mother; he's only going to sleep here to-night, and then he's going on to-morrow to get some more billets ready in the next town he comes to. Couldn't he come to tea this afternoon? Do let me ask him, granny!'
Mrs. Platt laughed not ill-humouredly. 'You would have us take in any scoundrel, provided he wore a red coat, wouldn't you?'
'Soldiers are never scoundrels!' asserted Teddy with hot indignation.
'Do you know all the soldiers in the British Army, then?' said his grandmother.
'I daresay he wouldn't care to come to tea with strangers, sonny,' put inMrs. John gently.
'I'm sure he would, for he doesn't like the Hare and Hounds. He said he was a teetotaller.'
'Come, that sounds good,' Mrs. Platt remarked. 'Well, you can ask him in for your father's sake.'
Not much dinner could Teddy eat that day, and his lessons at school had never seemed so irksome to him; but they were over at last, and he tore off in search of his new friend, finding him at length sitting under an old yew-tree just outside the churchyard.
'Granny says will you come to tea with us?' he asked breathlessly, as he came up to him.
The corporal looked up. He was a fine-looking young man with a frank, bright face, and he was reading a well-worn Bible, which he put carefully in his pocket before he rose to his feet.
'That's very kind of your granny,' he said; 'and I'll come with pleasure.I'm out of it at the Hare and Hounds.'
Teddy's quick eyes had spied the Bible.
'Do you like the Bible?' he asked gravely.
'It's my order book,' the corporal said with a smile, 'and my best friend in the world.'
'What's an order book?'
'It gives you your daily commands—just what you are to do and where you're to go. My Captain writes my orders down in His Word for me.'
'He's my Captain too,' said Teddy with glistening eyes. 'You mean Jesus, don't you? I've enlisted in His army, and I'm one of His soldiers.'
'Shake hands, little brother, then; we're comrades after all.'
'Are all soldiers in Jesus Christ's army?' asked Teddy as they walked away together.
The corporal shook his head sadly. 'Hardly any of them in my regiment,' he said. 'We're nearly seven hundred strong, and only six men besides myself, as far as I can tell, belong to the Lord. A year ago I was an awful blackguard myself: I drank dreadfully, and couldn't give the drink up; but that's all a thing of the past. Since I have belonged to the Lord He keeps me from it, and many other bad habits. I'll own I fairly dreaded coming to this bit of duty. The sight and smell of the beer is very strong to a man that has been such a slave to it, and I must be quartered in public-houses the whole way along.'
'You'll have to fight like Mr. Upton told me to, won't you?' said Teddy.'But if our Captain is with us, Mr. Upton says we shan't be beaten.'
'No,' said the corporal, a light coming into his eyes. 'We shall be more than conquerors.'
Then, after a pause, he said, 'It's very considerate of your granny to ask me to tea; I was just wishing that something could be done in this village for the men coming after me, like we had last year when we marched through the country for the manoeuvres. They gave us a free tea at several of the places we went through, and it kept so many from drinking. There's a man coming along here who I'm terrible anxious about. He's been an awful drunkard, and is quite an old soldier; but last New Year's Day he signed the pledge, and he's kept it ever since: he's just on the point of being converted, I hope. We have yarns by the hour together, but if he's billeted in the Hare and Hounds, or any other public-house, for that matter, I don't know what he'll do. There's nothing for them when they come in tired but to sit in the bar or tap-room and drink. They can't get away from it.' Teddy's brow was knitted with deep thought.
'I didn't know soldiers drank too much,' he said. 'I thought they never did anything wrong.'
The corporal smiled. 'It isn't many that is of your opinion,' he said.'Most folks put us down as a bad lot.'
That evening remained in his memory for long after: the sweet-scented garden, and the long low kitchen, with the happy family party gathered round the table; the clumsy efforts of the reticent farmer to make his guest feel at home; the short, pithy remarks made by Mrs. Platt, and the gentle, soft-voiced young mother, with the golden-haired boy, continually asking quaint questions about a soldier's life—all this came back to him with a keen sense of pleasure in after years. He was only a young fellow after all, and was touched and gratified by the kindness shown to him, for it made him think of his own mother in her village home; and when he took his leave he could hardly express his thanks.
Teddy had been allowed to sit up beyond his usual bedtime, and as he put his little hand into the big brown one of the young soldier he said, 'Do you mind telling me your name, corporal?'
'Walter Saxby,' was the ready response.
'And what's the name of the poor old soldier who signed the pledge on NewYear's Day?'
'Tim Stokes; he's called Bouncer by most of us.'
'I shall remember,' said Teddy; then turning to his mother and grandmother after Corporal Saxby had disappeared, he said solemnly, 'I may bring Bouncer to tea, mayn't I, if I find him? Corporal told me he hadn't properly enlisted as Jesus' soldier, but he wants to. Do you think Mr. Upton could get him to enlist while he's here? Or could you, granny? P'raps he'd do it for you.'
'I don't know what that boy will come to,' said Mrs. Platt later on, when Teddy was safe in bed; 'seems to me he has more the making of a minister in him than a soldier. I don't hold with children being too religious; it's forced and unnatural.'
'He ain't too good to live,' put in Jake slowly; 'no youngster can beat him in play.'
'I often wonder,' Mrs. John said thoughtfully, 'whether he will be a soldier after all; he is almost too sensitive to lead the hard, rough life so many do. I doubt if he could stand it.'
'He's not wanting in pluck and manliness,' Mrs. Platt observed, for she always had a good word to say for her little grandson when he was not present. 'I found him this morning careering round the field on that fresh young foal, without any saddle or bridle! I gave him a sharp scolding, for it was kicking up its hind legs like mad; but he only looked up in my face and laughed. "It's my charger, granny," he says, "and he smells the battle-field; that's why he's so excited!" I'm sorry these soldiers are going to fill the place; he thinks and talks quite enough of them as it is. We shan't have a moment's peace now till they're gone.'
Teddy was up very early the next morning to see his friend go off. He had another long conversation with him before wishing him good-bye; and then, with thoughtful face, he went to school, revolving many plans in his active little brain, and making innumerable mistakes in his lessons in consequence. At twelve o'clock, when free at last, he made his way to the rectory and asked for Mr. Upton, who greeted him very kindly.
'Any more troubles to tell me?'
'No, sir; but I want to tell you about the soldiers who are coming.'
'I have heard about them. It will be a grand time for you, won't it?'
'Please, sir, could you have a tea-party for them?'
Mr. Upton pushed up his glasses and looked very bewildered.
'A tea-party, did you say?'
'Yes; the corporal said a clergyman gave one hundred tea in a schoolroom last year, and spoke to them after. The corporal said it would keep them from drinking in the public-houses. He came to tea with us last night; but granny won't have a lot of them, so I told him I'd tell you about it.'
'It's rather an undertaking,' said Mr. Upton musingly, 'but we might do something for them. When are they to be here?'
'In two or three days, the corporal said.'
'I think I might manage it. I will go and see Colonel Graham, and find out if he will help.'
'I knew you would be able to do it,' said Teddy, beaming all over; 'and p'raps, sir, you could tell some of them how to enlist, like you did me. The corporal said I ought to try to be a recruiting sergeant for my Captain, but they wouldn't listen to me, I am sure. I'm going to try to enlist Nancy. I haven't tried half hard enough. But she says she'll only be a sailor for Jesus, not a soldier. Can she be that, sir?'
Mr. Upton smiled. 'Yes, I think she can. Sailors have to keep watch, and learn their drill, and take orders, and fight under their captain, just like soldiers.'
And then Teddy went home and electrified his mother by telling her, with an air of great importance, 'Mr. Upton and I are going to give the soldiers a tea-party when they come.'
The days passed; Mr. Upton was as good as his word. A large tea was provided in the village schoolroom, Colonel and Mrs. Graham taking a hearty interest in it; and when the soldiers came in one hot, dusty afternoon, everything was ready for them.
Teddy and others of the village children crowded round the Hare andHounds when they arrived, and Nancy was foremost of the crowd.
'I don't think much of soldiers,' she said, her nose tilted up in disdain. 'They're very dirty men, and covered with dust, and they've no band, nor flags flying, nor nothing.'
If Teddy was disappointed in the look of his heroes, he did not say so; but Sam remarked, 'I expect they've left the band and the flags in the town; these are only the lot that they can't put up there.'
Later in the afternoon Teddy made his way to the old elm outside the Hare and Hounds, where several of the men were resting on the wooden benches, some with pots of beer, and round whom some of the admiring villagers had made a little circle.
He pushed his way in with his accustomed fearlessness.
'Please, is Mr. Tim Stokes here?'
The soldiers laughed, and bandied a few jokes on the comrade alluded to.
'What do you want with him, youngster?'
'I want to speak to him.'
'I guess you'll find him under one of the tables in the tap-room; oldBouncer is pretty dry after a march like we've had to-day.'
There was a roar of laughter at this, but Teddy did not understand the joke.
'I mustn't go inside the Hare and Hounds,' he said; 'I promised mother I never would. Will you fetch him out for me?'
And turning to a good-natured-looking young fellow, Teddy put his hand coaxingly on his arm. The soldier looked into the boy's fair face with a laugh and then a sigh, and rising to his feet said, 'All right, little chap, I'll fetch him out to you.'
He was gone some time, and Teddy improved his opportunity by making friends with those around him; it was not long before he had acquainted them with the fact of his being a soldier's son, and from that he drifted into telling the story of 'Father's button!' There was vociferous applause when he had finished.
'Here, youngster,' said one of the older men, holding out his pewter pot to him, 'take a drink like a man; you deserve it!'
'No, thank you,' the boy said; 'I never drink beer.'
Then, as an oldish-looking soldier, with a heavy moustache already tinged with grey, came up to him, Teddy turned to him in delight.
[Illustration: 'ARE YOU BOUNCER?']
'Are you Bouncer?'
'That's what I'm called.' The man's face was an unhappy one, and he seemed to be the butt of his comrades, for they poured forth such a volley of good-natured ridicule on his appearance that Teddy looked from one to the other in complete mystification.
'Will you come and see my home?' the child asked softly. 'Corporal Saxby told me he thought you would like to come.'
The man's face lightened. 'Ay, that I will, if it ain't fur off; my legs are that stiff and sore. I don't want much walking.'
'It isn't very far.' Then, as they moved off together, Teddy slipped his little hand confidingly into the big one near him, and continued, 'Do you know there's going to be a splendid tea for you all in our schoolroom to-night—have you heard?'
'Ay; the parson was round an hour ago giving out tickets. There's little to be done in a place like this, and we're too tired to tramp into the town; so I expect there'll be a tidy few.'
'The corporal came to tea at our house the other night. He's a friend of yours, isn't he?'
'The best friend I've got,' was the hearty answer. 'Ay, lad, there's few of his sort in the Army; for one that tries to help us on a bit there's ten that tries to drag us down!'
'I suppose,' said Teddy dreamily, 'that, after all, the Queen's army isn't so nice to be in as the army I belong to? Does your captain help you when you're in trouble?'
'He helps us to pack-drill, or C. B., or cells!' replied Tim Stokes with grim humour.
This needed to be explained to Teddy, who went on after it was made clear to him: 'Ah! my Captain always helps me. Mr. Upton says when I do wicked things and get beaten by the enemy, I must call out to my Captain, and He will come at once and help me.'
'I reckon I've heard tell of your Captain, then, for that fellow Saxby is always dinning it into me; but I can't come to religion nohow—I can't make head or tail of it. I tell you, youngster, I've been having an awful time lately, and I can't keep to it. I'm certain sure the drink will do for me again. I can't keep away from it much longer, and this march'll see the end of my teetotal ways, I'm thinking.'
'And won't my Captain help you?'
'I'm not a hand at prayers and psalm-singing.'
'I wish you'd talk to Mr. Upton; he made me enlist a short time ago, andI've been ever so much happier since I did it.'
They were walking across the field leading to the farm, and as they came to the stile the soldier leant heavily on it. Turning his face full on the child, he said determinedly, 'I'm not a-goin' to talk to any Mr. Upton or no one about it. I'd as lief hear you as a parson. You mind me of a little brother of mine that died ten years ago. "Tim," he said, just afore he went, "Tim, will you meet me in heaven?" He was the only one I ever loved, and I've lived a dog's life since!'
His eyes were moist with feeling, and for a minute Teddy looked at him silently in pitying wonder. Then he said, 'Look here, Bouncer, this is what Mr. Upton said to me. He told me Jesus had died for me, and how dared I keep from being His soldier when He loved me so? You know that, don't you?'
'Ay, so Saxby tells me; but it don't make no difference.'
'No more it didn't to me,' continued the boy eagerly, 'until I went toGod and enlisted. I did it quite by myself in the wood. You do it too,Bouncer—you give yourself to God as His soldier, and He'll take you andkeep you.'
'I've been too bad; it keeps me wakeful at nights, the very thinkin' of it!'
'But won't God forgive you if you ask Him to?'
'Saxby says so; but I don't know. The fact is, a soldier can't be aChristian in the Army.'
'I don't believe you want to be one of God's soldiers,' said Teddy in a disappointed tone; 'you keep making 'scuses!'
There was silence; then Tim Stokes heaved a heavy sigh.
'I won't come no further, youngster; I ain't in a mind to-day to see company, but I'll be at the tea to-night.'
'Oh, Bouncer, do come!' and Teddy's eyes filled with tears. 'You promised you would. I do want you to see mother and granny!'
But Tim wheeled round and strode off with something like a sob in his throat. Teddy had little idea of the mighty conflict in his breast. The child's words had awakened many memories, and Tim was at that stage now when the powers of good and of evil were contending for his soul.
'He don't believe I want it, for I keep making excuses!' muttered the poor man. 'Ay, I do; but I haven't got over the longing to be different. I'd cut off my right hand, I do believe, if I could be as Saxby is. I can't bring myself up to the point; that's it!'
Meanwhile, poor little Teddy crept indoors with a sad face, to announce to his mother the failure of his mission.
'He was nearly here, mother—just the other side of the hedge outside—and yet he turned back!'
Uplifted and Cast Down
It was a bright, cheery gathering a few hours later. Mr. Upton had thrown his whole heart into the scheme, and had been round with his tickets to a few outlying inns, where more of the men were billeted, so that there were altogether over forty redcoats assembled. Mrs. John and two other neighbours were in charge of the tea and coffee, and Teddy and Nancy, with one or two other children, as a special favour, were allowed to help to wait on the guests. The tables were decorated with flowers; meat-pies, cold beef and ham sandwiches disappeared in a marvellous manner, and the cakes and bread-and-butter with watercress were equally appreciated. Towards the end of the meal several ladies came forward and sang, and one or two part-songs were also given by some of the guests staying at the Hall.
'Now,' said Colonel Graham in his brisk, hearty tones, 'before we have a few words from Mr. Upton, I should like to tell you how glad I am to see the redcoats about me once more. I know your regiment well, for my own, the 10th Hussars, lay with it in Colchester ten years ago. I am sure you have all enjoyed your tea, but perhaps you do not know who was the instigator of the whole thing. We must thank Mr. Upton for his untiring zeal and energy in making arrangements; we must thank the ladies for trying to make the evening pleasant by their songs; but we must thank a little man here, I am given to understand, for the proposal in the first instance.'
And to Teddy's intense surprise the colonel swung him up on the impromptu platform, to receive a deafening round of applause.
He made a pretty picture as the light fell on his golden curls and sparkling blue eyes; his cheeks were flushed with excitement, but he bore himself bravely, and he held his head erect as he faced the crowded room.
'He will speak to you better than I can,' the colonel added, with a smile, 'for I'm a poor speaker myself. I'm the old soldier here to-night, and my fighting days are past; his are all in the future, and he looks forward to wear the red coat with the rest of you. I hope he'll bear as brave a part in the Service as his father did before him. Now, my boy, have you anything to say?'
'It will turn his head,' murmured Mrs. John to herself; but her mother's heart swelled with pride as his clear voice rang out,—
'It wasn't I who thought about the tea, it was Corporal Saxby,' (cheers). 'I haven't anything to say, unless you'd like me to tell you father's story. I've told it once to-day, but you weren't all there. May I, sir?'
'Certainly,' was the colonel's amused reply.
Teddy had never had such an audience before in his life, but he was quite equal to the occasion. Fingering his button, he began in his usual impetuous fashion. The very eagerness for his father's deed to be honoured prevented him from any feelings of self-consciousness, and he carried his audience by storm.
The ladies were delighted and touched by it, and Mrs. John quietly wiped some tears from her eyes.
And then Mr. Upton got up. His dreamy manner in speaking was absent now, and he spoke straightly and forcibly to those in the Queen's service of the battle to be waged with sin. Touching on their special difficulties and temptations, he told them how absolutely impossible it was for them to be, in their own strength, a match for the devil with all the powers of evil at his back, and how the same Saviour who died for them, would keep them, and lead them on to certain victory, if they would but enlist in His service. Nothing could exceed the attention with which he was listened to, and the evening ended by their rising to their feet and singing 'God Save the Queen.' Then a sergeant rose to propose a vote of thanks, cheers were given, and all departed, greatly pleased with their evening. Teddy slipped up to Tim Stokes on going out.
'Shall I see you again?' he asked.
'I shall be busy to-morrow; we march out at eight in the morning.'
'Oh, I shall come and see you off.'
Tim lingered, then laying his hand heavily on the boy's fair curls, he said, 'God bless you, little chap! I've done it.'
Teddy's eyes lit up at once. 'Have you—really and truly?'
He nodded. 'My heart's full, and I can't speak of it, but I was away near the woods there by myself before the tea, and it's all right with me. I only wonder I didn't do it before. I wouldn't yield, that's the fact. Don't forget to pray for me, youngster.'
And he dashed out after his comrades, as if ashamed to show his emotion.
Teddy called his mother to him when in bed that night.
'Mother, I will be a soldier, I'm certain sure I will; but I'm very glad I can be one of God's soldiers without waiting to grow up. And I think I shall be a recruiting sergeant for God now; I'm sure He wants lots more soldiers, doesn't He?'
'Indeed He does, my boy. Now go to sleep; you have had a very exciting day.'
'But the best of all is,' said Teddy sleepily, 'that Bouncer has enlisted.'
There was quite a crowd of villagers and children the next morning round the Hare and Hounds. The soldiers were drawn up outside, waiting for the approach of their regiment from the town to fall in and march on with them. Teddy and Nancy were, of course, there; the little girl, in spite of her alleged disdain of soldiers, was delighted to be in their vicinity. Teddy could not get near his friend Bouncer, but he received a friendly nod from him in the distance, and as for Bouncer's face, it was like sunshine itself, a marked contrast to the day before. As the band was heard approaching, cheers were given to the men now leaving, and a tall corporal who had much enjoyed his tea the night before stooped to ask of Nancy, who was standing close to him, 'What's the name of that curly-headed youngster who got us the tea?'
Nancy looked up at him mischievously: 'The button-boy! That's what I call him, and I shan't never call him anything else!'
Then the corporal's voice rang out clear and loud,—
'Three cheers for the little button-boy !' which was taken up enthusiastically by the soldiers, and Teddy hardly knew whether he was on his head or heels from excitement and delight. But he had to pay a penalty for his prominent position. From that day the title of the 'button-boy' stuck to him, and it became his nickname in the village by all who knew him.
On came the regiment, with the colours flying and the band playing in the most orthodox style, and Teddy was bitterly disappointed when the warning bell of school prevented him from marching along the road with them.
The schoolmaster was very lenient with the boys that morning, or else they would have been in dire disgrace, for lessons were imperfectly learned and said, and never had he found it so difficult to keep their attention.
But if Teddy was inattentive and careless at school, he was doubly troublesome at home, and for the next few days his mother's fears were realised. The excitement of all that had taken place seemed to have quite turned his head for the time. He jumped on Kate Brown's back—the hired girl—when she was carrying two pails of milk to the dairy, and the contents of both pails were spilt and wasted; he shut up a fighting bantam cock and the stable cat into a barn, and left them fighting furiously; he locked one of the farm-labourers in a hayloft, and pulled away the ladder, so that he was not released for hours, and he proved such an imp of mischief in the house that even his mother meditated handing him over to his uncle to be whipped.
At last it came to a climax in school. He brought a lot of young frogs in a handkerchief, put some of them in the master's desk, and amused himself at intervals by slipping the others down the backs of the boys seated in front of him. His corner was the most unruly one in the room, and whilst waiting for another class to come down he began one of his stories in a whisper to a most interested audience.
'I went to see a goblin once that I heard of. He lived in a tub on the seashore, and he lived by gobbling up schoolmasters and governesses. He used to cut their hair off, scrape them well like a horse-radish, and then begin at their toes and gobble them up till he got to their heads—their heads he boiled in a saucepan for soup. The boys and girls used to bring their masters, when they didn't—'
'Edward Platt!'
Never had the master's voice sounded so stern. The frogs were discovered!—and his wrath was not appeased by seeing the cluster of heads round Teddy, and catching a few words of the delicious story going on.
Teddy started to his feet.
'Who put these frogs here?'
'I did, sir.' The answer was boldly given.
'Come here!'
And amidst the sudden hush that fell on all the boys, Teddy walked up to the master's desk with hot cheeks and bent head.
'Edward Platt, for the last three days you have been incorrigible. I have kept you in, and given you extra tasks, but neither has had any effect. Now I shall have to do what I have never yet done to you. Hold out your hand.'
Teddy's head was raised instantly, and holding himself erect he bore unflinchingly the three or four sharp strokes with the cane that the master thought fit to give him.
'Now,' said the master, 'you can go home. I will dispense with your attendance for the rest of this morning.'
Teddy walked out without a word: he felt the disgrace keenly, but it was the means of bringing him to himself, and rushing away to a secluded corner in a field he flung himself down on the ground and sobbed as if his heart would break. Half an hour after his uncle, happening to pass through that field, came across him.
'Why, Ted, what be the matter?' he inquired as he lifted him to his feet.
Teddy's tear-stained face and quivering lips touched him so, that he sat down on a log of wood near, and drew him between his knees.
'Are you feeling bad—are you hurt?' was the next question; and then Teddy looked up, and in a solemn voice asked, 'What does the Queen do when her soldiers are beaten instead of getting a victory?'
'I—I'm sure I doan't know. I can't remember the time when we was beaten.I reckon she's sorry for them.'
'Doesn't she turn them out of her army?'
'Why, noa!'
'What does God do when His soldiers leave off fighting, and knock under to their enemy?'
'I reckon He's sorry too.'
Dimly Jake Platt began to see the drift of the child's questions. Teddy shook his curly head mournfully. 'I'm sure He'll have to turn soldiers out of His army if they give up fighting, and let the banner drag in the dust, and just let the enemy do what they like with them. Why, I've done worse than that!'—here he clenched his little fists and raised his voice excitedly—'I've gone with the enemy, I've joined Ipse, and that's being a deserter, and now I shan't never, never be able to get back again!'
His uncle looked sorely puzzled.
'Why ain't you at school? What have you been a'doin'?'
Teddy told him all in a despairing tone, adding,—
'I can't meet mother—I've been caned, and—and I've disgraced my button!'
Here his tears burst out afresh.
'Look here,' said his uncle slowly, 'I won't say but what you've been a bad boy—your mother herself has been in sore trouble about you this last day or two; but if we gets a fall in the mud it ain't much good stopping there; the only thing is to pick ourselves up agen, get ourselves cleaned, and then start agen and walk more carefully. Can't you do that?'
'I'm a deserter,' sobbed the boy; 'my Captain won't have me back. I've disgraced Him, I've disgraced my banner, I've disgraced my button!'
'Your Captain will pick you up, I'm thinkin', if you ask Him. He'll clean you up fust-rate, and set you on your legs agen.'
'Will He?' And hope once more began to dawn in the dim blue eyes.
'Of course He will. I ain't good at verses and such like, but I do remember this one—"Though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow." Won't that one fit you?'
Teddy did not answer. He stood looking up wistfully into the blue sky, as if unconscious of his uncle's presence, and then he sighed. 'I think I'd rather be alone, Uncle Jake.'
Jake left him without a word, and went home to prepare Mrs. John for what had happened.'
She was much distressed, but, like a sensible woman, took the right view of the case.
'He wanted to be pulled up sharp; my poor boy, is he much hurt?'
The caning was such a minor point of Teddy's grief that Jake confessed to knowing nothing about it. Mrs. Platt was inclined to be indignant with the schoolmaster.
'Such a tiny little chap as he is, so full of feeling and nerves—he hadn't ought to have done it.'
Yet only that morning she herself had almost given him a sound whipping for one of his mad pranks!
Shortly after Teddy crept in, and shutting the door behind him, put his back against it.
'Mother, granny,' he said, 'I've been an awful boy at school this morning, and I'm in disgrace. I've been caned.'
His tone was tragic, then he added slowly, 'But I'm very sorry, and I'm sorry I've been so naughty at home, and I'm going to start again, because my Captain has forgiven me.'
And then Mrs. John did the wisest thing she could do. She asked no questions, but got some warm water and took him off to wash his face and hands. She saw the red marks across the little hand, but refrained from making much of it; and then, after putting his curly head in order, she drew it to her shoulder, and putting her arms round him, she said,—
'My sonny, mother is so glad her little son feels his naughtiness. She has been praying much for him to-day. And now tell me all about it.'
In the Clover Field
'Please, Mrs. Platt, can I see Teddy?'
'I think he is out in the clover field. Don't you be romping round with him now, for he's taken his Sunday book out, and is as quiet as can be.'
It was Nancy who was standing at the farmhouse door one lovely Sunday evening. Old Mrs. Platt was the only one at home, and she motioned with her hand where her little grandson would be found.
Nancy discovered him a few minutes later, lying full length in the sweet-scented clover, an open book before him. When he raised his face to hers, it wore his most angelic look.
'Hulloo! what have you come here for?' he asked.
'To talk to you,' and, without more ado, Nancy squatted down beside him.'What are you doing?' she went on; 'and what's your Sunday book?'
'It's thePilgrim's Progress. I love it; don't you? I haven't been reading it though for a long time. I've been having a beautiful make-up.'
'Tell me,' and Nancy's tone was eager.
Teddy looked away to the purple hills in the distance, and beyond and above them to the soft evening sky, with its delicate fleecy clouds flitting by, and taking every imaginable form and shape as they did so.
The dreamy, far-away look came into his eyes as he said slowly,—
'It's a Sunday make-believe, quite one to myself, and I've never told it to any one. I can only tell it to myself out of doors, when it's still and quiet, and then I feel sometimes it's quite real!'
'Do tell me,' pleaded Nancy coaxingly.
'Well, it's getting to heaven—after I'm got there, you know.'
Nancy's eyes grew big with awe.
'Shall I tell you how I begin it?'
She nodded, and Teddy, turning over on his side, brought forth another book—a New Testament.
Turning to an open page he began to read with great emphasis,—
'"And he carried me away in the spirit to a great and high mountain, and showed me that great city, the holy Jerusalem, descending out of heaven from God."'
'That's the Bible,' said Nancy.
'Yes; now listen. I'm lying here in this field; it's very, very still. I hear a little rustle behind. I don't look round, and then, flash! comes a beautiful white angel. Now he's standing in front of me.'
'What's he like?'
'He's dressed in white shiny stuff, and he has very white feathery wings. His face is smiling. He has eyes like mother's, and hair like Sally White's.'
'Flaxen, mother says it is,' put in Nancy.
'Yes; he stands quite still. Hush! hear him!—"Teddy, I've come to fetch you to heaven." And then I stand up. I listen hard, but I don't say anything. He says, "You haven't been altogether a good soldier, but the Captain says He wants you. Come along." Then I get up and sit myself between his wings, and put my arms round his neck, and he begins to go up. I see mother, and granny, and Uncle Jake, and I wave my hand to them, and mother throws a kiss at me and calls out, "Give my love to father," and away we go, over our fields and across the high road, and over Farmer Green's fields, and then we fly right to the top of that mountain over there!'
'Do let me come, too!' said Nancy. 'I want to be on the angel's back with you.'
'P'raps you can follow behind on another angel; I want mine all to myself. We get up to the top of the mountain, then I stand down on the ground.'
'And me, too!' put in Nancy.
'You mustn't keep stopping me; I can't feel it if you do. I stand there, and I think at first I can't see nothing but a lot of little soft clouds, one above the other, just like those over there; but the angel says, "Put your foot on one of them, and then on the next one—they're the steps to heaven!"'
'Oh!' gasped Nancy, following it with keen reality; 'you'll tumble!'
'I don't; it's like putting your foot in cotton wool. I go up—I have to go quite by myself, but the angel comes behind, to see I don't fall. And then he says, "Look up; don't you see the gates?" And then I look, and I see them—shining gold gates, very big, and covered with jewels like Mrs. Graham wears on her fingers. I go up and up, and then I'm there.'
'Is that all?'
'Why, that's just the beginning. I'm only outside. The gates are shut, but when they see me coming, two more angels come and swing them wide open, and I'm feeling rather frightened, but I walk in. There's a long wide street made like the gates, and I walk very carefully, for fear of slipping down, then I see a lot of angels coming along with trumpets, and then they go first and begin to play like the soldiers' band. I march on to a very, very, very big door, and there on the steps leading up stands my Captain.'
Teddy paused. 'I can't tell you what He's like, but I feel what He's like myself. Such a loving, kind face, and He puts His hand on my head and says, "Well done, Teddy!" And then I take hold of His hand, and I think I cry.'
Matter-of-fact Nancy sees with surprise that Teddy's eyes are filling with tears at the thought.
He went on softly, 'I think He takes me up in His arms then, because I'm very tired, and He carries me into the most beautiful garden you ever saw in your life, and He takes me to father, who is waiting there.'
'Tell me what the garden's like.'
Teddy does not speak; he is full of the meeting with his father, andNancy waits a little impatiently.
'The garden is lovely,' he said at last, drawing in a breath of delight at the thought. 'It's always sunny and warm, the grass is very soft and green, and there's every flower in the world all bunched up together. The seats are made of roses, and if you want to go to sleep, the pillows are made up of violets; there's a beautiful river, and trees full of apples and oranges, and plums and pears; the banks are red—they're made of strawberries.'
'Oh,' gasped Nancy, 'how lovely!'
'There are summer-houses, and little white boats to row on the river, and gold harps hanging up on the trees; and then I think, I hope, there are lots of dogs running about, and then you can ride all day on lions, and tigers, and bears, and they won't bite you, but lick your hands.'
'Go on. What else?'
'Then we stand up and sing hymns when my Captain comes by, and we play on the harps, and blow the trumpets as much as ever we like. I think my Captain sometimes comes and sits down and talks to us and tells us stories.'
There was silence; then Nancy said, 'Is that all?'
'That's enough for you,' said Teddy, a little condescendingly. 'I think and make believe a lot more.'
'I want to go to heaven,' Nancy said thoughtfully.
Then Teddy came back to earth.
'Have you enlisted yet?' he asked.
'I'm not going to be a soldier,' said Nancy quickly.
'Well, you'll never get to heaven if you don't fight for our Captain now. He won't let you inside the gates unless you belong to Him. Girls can fight just as much as boys.'
'Of course they can. I can fight as well as you, button-boy!'
'Why don't you fight your enemy, then?'
'What enemy?'
'My enemy is called Ipse. He's a dreadful trouble to me. You've got yours—the thing inside you that makes you want to do naughty things; you've got to fight it, and do the good things instead. I've had two fights with Ipse to-day.'
'Have you? Do tell me!'
'You mustn't tell any one, then. It was in church this morning. There was an old woman in front of me, and she'd untied her bonnet, and the ribbons fell over in our pew. She went fast asleep in the sermon, and nodded her head back till it almost tumbled off her head, and Ipse thought if I would put out my hand and just give a tiny, weeny pull at the ribbon, it would come right off!'
Nancy clapped her hands. 'Why didn't you? What fun!'
'I wanted to let Ipse have his way dreadful, but I remembered I must fight him, and I did. I asked my Captain to help me, and then I put both my hands in my pockets, and screwed up my eyes tight. But I was glad when she woke up and tied her bonnet on again.'
'That was much gooder than I could have been. What's the other fight you had?'
'Uncle Jake brought some fresh honey from the hives, and he put it on a plate in the window in the kitchen. He said when he went out of the room, "Don't touch that, Teddy," as I was waiting for mother to come to church with me, and I went up and looked at it. Ipse said to me, "Just put one finger in it." And I had to fight him very hard over that, but I ran away out of the room.'
'And do you always fight him hard?'
'No; I often forget till it's too late. Mother said I must ask my Captain to make me remember. I do ask Him a lot to help me.'
'I don't think I like that sort of fighting.'
'Nancy, I wish you'd give yourself to God as His soldier.' Teddy turned round earnestly as he spoke.
'I think,' said Nancy slowly, 'I like to be naughty best.' Then she added, with quick change of tone, 'My father is coming home soon, and he'll come to see us here. Then you'll see what a grand sailor he is. He is much grander than your father was.'
'My father was an officer,' said Teddy proudly.
'So's my father; he is a first-class petty officer'; and Nancy brought out the words slowly and with much emphasis.
'My father was a non-commissioned officer,' said Teddy, determining not to be beaten; 'he was a full sergeant.'
'My father gives orders to all the sailors, and they have to do what he tells them.'
'So did my father, and he led the soldiers through a battle.'
'My father will fight in twenty battles before he dies, and yours only fought in one.'
'My father is in heaven, and that's the grandest place to be in.'
Coming to this climax was too much for Nancy, and the thoughts of that place of which they had been having so much talk subdued their rising ire.
Teddy said reproachfully, after a minute's silence, 'Ipse was nearly getting angry with you then. You're such a dreadful girl for making me quarrel with you.'
'You won't let me say my father is as good as yours,' protested Nancy.
'He isn't better. Yes—don't get angry, Nancy; let's say they're just the same.'
And with this admission Nancy was for the time pacified.
Before they parted she looked at her little companion with solemn eyes.
'I won't promise, but I'll think about belonging to the Captain. I should like to go to heaven.'
It was one day soon after this that Teddy was straying over the fields in his happy, careless fashion; fond as he was of games with the village boys, often there were times when he liked his own society best, and he wandered on talking to himself, and gathering grass and wild-flowers as he went. His quick eyes soon noted some sheep making their way through a gap in the hedge, and from thence they were going through an open gate into the high road.
'Those are Farmer Green's sheep,' quoth he to himself. 'I'm glad of it—horrid old man he is! No, Ipse, be quiet; that isn't the way to think of him. I'll go and drive them back again!'
And he trotted off with this intention; but it is much more difficult to get sheep into their rightful place than out of it, and this Teddy found to his cost. His face was hot and red, his voice hoarse with shouting, and then, to his consternation, Farmer Green appeared on the scene.
'You young vagabond,' he shouted, springing towards him, a thick stick in hand, 'leave my sheep alone! How dare you come on my premises? You're always after some fresh trick or other.'
Teddy stood still till he came up to him, then looked up frankly at him.
'Indeed, sir, I was trying to drive them back through their hole again.Look, that's where they broke through.'
'A likely story! Much more probable you made the hole yourself.'
Teddy's blood rushed into his face. 'I never tell a lie!' he cried, 'and you're a—'
He stopped, and hung his head in shame at the word that almost slipped from him.
Jonathan Green looked curiously at him.
'Now may I ask what the end of that speech was going to be?' he said grimly.
Teddy looked up. 'Ipse was going to say you was a liar yourself, but I just stopped him in time.'
'I shall believe you have a bee in your bonnet, as some folks say,' said the farmer; 'pray, if the sheep came out of their proper field, what business was that of yours?'
'I wanted to be good to you. I'm sorry I tied you up that day, dreadful sorry. And I've got to love you, so I thought it would be a good plan to send your sheep back again.'
'You've got to love me!' repeated the farmer, opening his eyes in mock surprise; 'and when did I ask for any of your love, young fellow?'
'I don't suppose you want me to,' observed Teddy cheerfully, as he saw that the stick, instead of being brandished over his head, was now safely resting on the ground, 'but I've got to do it, you see, because my banner I'm holding for my Captain is Love, and I must love everybody.'
The farmer did not answer. Teddy continued earnestly,—
'Do you think you could manage to forgive me, and let us shake hands? It would make it easier for me to love you if you could.'
There was such honesty of purpose in the blue eyes raised to his, such wistful curves to the sensitive little lips, that Jonathan Green for the first time felt the thrall of the child's power.
'Come into the house with me,' he said, 'and I'll see what the missus has to say to you.'
Teddy followed him without the slightest misgiving, and he was led into the farmhouse kitchen, where Mrs. Green sat knitting over the fire, and one of her daughters was laying the cloth for tea.
'Mary Ann, here's the scamp of the village come to see you; keep him here till I come back. I'm after some stray sheep'; and shutting the door with a bang the farmer disappeared.
Teddy shook hands with the old lady and the young one, and then seated himself in the big chair opposite Mrs. Green.
'What have you been doing?' the latter inquired; 'how is it your mother can't keep you out of mischief?'
'I haven't been in mischief, really I haven't'; and poor Teddy felt the truth of the saying, 'Give a dog a bad name, and hang him.'
He tried to tell his story, and then when that did not seem to be understood, he deftly changed the subject.
'What does Farmer Green like best in the world?' he asked.
This astonishing question struck Mrs. Green dumb, but her daughterNatty laughed.
'Gooseberry pudding!' she said. 'Now then, what's the next question?
But Teddy was silent, and not another word did he say till the farmer came in again.
'This youngster is on the tack of reforming himself, Mary Ann,' said Jonathan, sitting down in the chair that Teddy immediately vacated upon his entrance; 'do you believe it?'
'I have no faith in boys,' said Mrs. Green, with a shake of her head, 'they're all alike, and are always taking you unawares!'
'You hear what the missus says; you won't get no help from that quarter.But I'll give you a chance; would you like to stop to tea with us?'
Teddy smiled. 'Thank you, sir, but mother will expect me home to tea; mayI go now? And do you forgive me for what I did the other day?'