'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.