of fighting.' The young sentinel longed to go with
him, and join the fight, but he remembered his duty in time.

"'I cannot leave this tower,' he said; 'I have had orders to stay and
give the alarm should the enemy appear, and the town trusts me to do
so.'

"'I believe that you are afraid,' said the soldier as he hurried away.

"And this was the hardest of all, and the sentinel longed to join in the
fighting to show that he, too, was no coward, but could fight like a
man.

"He stood there, listening to the noise in the distance, to the shouts
of the enemy, and the screams of those who were struck down. And as he
looked below the walls into the valley beyond he thought that he could
distinguish men moving, and while he watched he saw a number of soldiers
creeping up to the walls, and one man had even placed his foot on the
steps that led up to his tower. Quick as thought, the sentinel seized
the rope of the large bell that hung over his head and clanged it again
and again.

"In a few minutes the troops were assembled, and, making their way down
the steep steps, they charged at the enemy, and followed them into the
valley.

"Late on the following evening the soldiers returned, but not all, for
many were killed--and they brought back news of a great victory. The
enemy was routed and the town saved. So you see, children," said mother
gravely, "how much better it is to do what is right. If that young
sentinel had left his post, even though it were to help the men in the
other tower, the enemy would have climbed up those steps and got into
the town. You must try to remember this always. You should have obeyed
nurse, and remembered that she was trusting you to do what she had said.
It was a kind thought of yours to try to rescue Poor Jane's brother, but
obedience to nurse should have come first."

[Sidenote: Jane's Delusion]

"But we forgot, mummie," said Humpty.

"What would have happened if the sentinel had forgotten that he was
trusted to do his duty, and stay in the tower?"

Humpty was silent.

"And now," said mummie cheerfully, "we will forget all about the
terrible fright you have given us, and you must try to remember what I
have said. I want to know all about Poor Jane's brother," she continued,
smiling; "is it some one you have been imagining about?"

"Oh, no!" cried the twins at once. And then they told her of the
conversation which they had had with Poor Jane, and of what she had said
about her broth