rts in the croft, a
poor old man, who had been gathering sticks, came by that way, bending
under the weight of the load. When he appeared, the children ceased
from their play, and stood looking at him.

"'Poor man!' said Miss Patty Cartwright, 'those sticks are too heavy
for you to carry. Have you far to go?'

"'No, my pretty miss,' said the old man; 'only a very little way.'

"'I cannot help to carry your sticks,' said Master Cartwright, 'because
I have my best coat on. I could take off that, to be sure, but then my
other things would be spoiled; but I have got a penny here, if you
please to accept it.' So saying, he forced the penny into the poor
man's hand.

"In the meantime, Master Bennet went behind the old man, and giving the
sticks a sly pull, the string that tied them together broke, and they
all came tumbling on the ground. The children screamed, but nobody was
hurt.

"'Oh, my sticks!' said the poor man; 'the string is broke! What shall I
do to gather them together again? I have been all day making this
little faggot.'

"'We will help you,' said Master Cartwright; 'we can gather your
sticks together without fear of hurting our clothes.'

"So all the little ones set to work (excepting Master and Miss Bennet,
who stood by laughing), and in a little while they made up the poor
man's bundle of sticks again, and such as had a penny in their pockets
gave it him. Miss Patty Cartwright had not a penny, but she had a
silver sixpence, which she gave to the old man, and ran before him to
open the gate (which led out of the field), wishing him good-night, and
curtseying to him as civilly as if he had been the first lord of the
land.

"Now the children never suspected that Mrs. Howard had heard and seen
all this, or else Master and Miss Bennet, I am sure, would not have
behaved as they did. They thought Mrs. Howard was in the parlour, where
they had left her.

"By this time everything was ready for tea, and the cake set upon the
table, with the strawberries and cream.

"'And now, Betty,' said Mrs. Howard, 'you may call the children; and be
sure, when tea is over, to bring the toys.'

"Master and Miss Bennet looked as demure when they came in to tea as
they had done at dinner, and a stranger would have thought them as
well-behaved children as Master and Miss Cartwright; but children who
behave well in the sight of their parents, or in company, and rudely or
impertinently in private, or among servants or their