hedges at each side, walked Teddy's mother, holding her little son
tightly by the hand. The bells of the village church were ringing out for
the service, and groups of two and three were passing in at the old lych
gate. Mrs. John was talking in her sweet clear voice to her boy, and he,
letting his restless blue eyes rove to and fro, noting every bird on the
hedges and every flower in the path, kept bringing them back to his
mother's face with a dreamy upward gaze. 'I will try, mother, I really
will. I will keep my hands tight in my pockets, and my feet close
together; I will pretend I'm going to be shot by a file of soldiers, and
then I really think that will help me not to fidget. I promise you I'll
be good to-day.'

And having received this protestation from him, Mrs. John passed into
church with a relieved mind. Teddy's restless little body was a sore
trial to any one who sat next him in church, and many were the lectures
that had been bestowed on him by Sunday-school teacher and pastor,
besides the gentle admonitions of his mother.

As Teddy quietly perched himself on the seat beside his mother, he
murmured to himself, 'Twenty soldiers in front of me, twenty rifles
pointing--I shall stand like a rock--I'll set my teeth, and I
shan't even blink my eyes. Now I see the officer coming--he's going
to say, "Present!" I'm not moving a muscle. Five minutes more
they'll give me--'

His active brain here received a check. There on the opposite side,
facing him, was Nancy, seated between her mother and old Sol. She was
still in her sailor suit, and with her dark mischievous brown eyes fixed
steadily on him, Teddy could not remain unmoved beneath her gaze for
long. His little hands were working nervously in his coat pockets. Why