eddy uttered no reply; but his little heart was full, and he made many
inward resolves, which, alas! his eight-year-old nature was not strong
enough to keep.

CHAPTER EIGHT.

UNAPPRECIATED.

He really did not mean any harm; but mischief is mischief whether
intentional or not, and somehow or other he seemed continually to be
getting into it. Circumstances, over which, of course, he had no
control, continually overruled his anxious desire to be good.

As Doctor Jolly said, with his usual strident hearty laugh that could be
heard half a mile off, and which was so contagious that it made people
smile whose thoughts were the reverse of gay, Teddy was always in hot
water, "except, by Jove, when he plunged into the cold, ho, ho!"

With reference to this latter point, however, it may be mentioned here,
that albeit he had twice been mercifully preserved from drowning, the
vicar, while trustful enough in the divine workings of Providence, did
not think it altogether right to allow Teddy's insurance against a
watery grave to be entirely dependent on chance; and so, that very
evening, when Jupp came up to the house after he had done his work at
the station, he broached the subject to him as soon as the worthy porter
had been made cognisant of all the facts connected with the raft
adventure.

"No," said the vicar, so carried away by his feelings that he almost
added "my brethren," fancying himself in the pulpit delivering a homily
to his congregation generally, instead of only addressing one hearer,
"we ought not to neglect any wise precaution in guarding against those
dangers that beset our everyday lives. Lightly spoken as the adage is,
that `God helps those who help themselves,' it is true enough."

"Aye, aye, sir, and so say I," assented Jupp, rather mystified as to
"what the parson was a-driving at," as he mentally expressed it, by this
grand beginning, and thinking it had some reference to his not being
present at the pond to rescue Teddy in his peril, which he keenly
regretted.

"This being my impression," continued the vicar, completing his period,
as if rounding a sentence in one of his sermons, wherein he was
frequently prone to digress, "and I'm glad to learn from your
acquiescent reply that you agree with me on the main issue, eh?"

Jupp nodded his head again, although now altogether in a fog regarding
the other's meaning.

"Well, then," said the vicar, satisfied with having at last cleared the
ground