e 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
did she stare at him so? Well, he could stare back, and then blue eyes
and brown confronted each other for some moments with unblinking defiance
in their gaze. At last Teddy's patience gave way, and twisting up his
little features into a most grotesque grimace, he mounted a hassock to
give her the full benefit of it.

Instantly, out came a little red tongue at him, and at this daring piece
of audacity he gasped out loud, 'I hate you!' Then, as all eyes in the
surrounding pews were turned upon him, and his mother's shocked gaze met
his, Teddy crimsoned to the roots of his hair, and taking up a large
Prayer-book, he used it as a shield from his small antagonist during the
remainder of the service. As the congregation were leaving the church
later on, the rector made his way to young Mrs. Platt, who was lingering
talking to a neighbour. He wa