Teddy | Page 5

him, miss, if I may make so bold as to ax
the question?" he said hesitatingly, being somewhat puzzled in his
mind as to whether "miss" or "mum" was the correct form in which to
address such a pleasant young woman, who might or might not be a
matron for all he could tell.
He evidently hit upon the right thing this time; for, she answered him
all the more pleasantly, with a bright smile on her face.
"Why, ever so far!" she exclaimed. "Don't you know that large red
brick house t'other side of the village, where Mr Vernon lives--a sort of
old-fashioned place, half covered with ivy, and with a big garden?"
"Parson Vernon's, eh?"
"Yes, Master Teddy's his little son."
"Lor', I thought he were a single man, lone and lorn like myself, and
didn't have no children," said Jupp.
"That's all you know about it," retorted the nurse. "You must be a
stranger in these parts; and, now I come to think on it, I don't believe as
I ever saw you here before."
"No, miss, I was only shifted here last week from the Junction, and
hardly knows nobody," said Jupp apologetically. "For the rights o' that,

I ain't been long in the railway line at all, having sarved ten years o' my
time aboard a man-o'-war, and left it thinking I'd like to see what a
shore billet was like; and so I got made a porter, miss, my karacter
being good on my discharge."
"Dear me, what a pity!" cried the nurse. "I do so love sailors."
"If you'll only say the word, miss, I'll go to sea again to-morrow then!"
ejaculated Jupp eagerly.
"Oh no!" laughed the nurse; "why, then I shouldn't see any more of you;
but I was telling you about Master Teddy. Parson Vernon, as you call
him, has four children in all--three of them girls, and Master Teddy is
the only boy and the youngest of the lot."
"And I s'pose he's pretty well sp'ilt?" suggested Jupp.
"You may well say that," replied the other. "He was his mother's pet,
and she, poor lady, died last year of consumption, so he's been made all
the more of since by his little sisters, and the grandmother when she
comes down, as she did at Christmas. You'd hardly believe it, small as
he looks he almost rules the house; for his father never interferes, save
some terrible row is up and he hears him crying--and he can make a
noise when he likes, can Master Teddy!"
"Ess," said the mite at this, thinking his testimony was appealed to, and
nodding his head affirmatively.
"And he comed all that way from t'other side o' the village by hisself?"
asked Jupp by way of putting a stop to sundry other endearments the
fascinating young woman was recklessly lavishing on the little chap.
"Why, it's more nor a mile!"
"Aye, that he has. Just look at him," said she, giving the mite another
shake, although this time it was of a different description to the one she
had first administered.
He certainly was not much to look at in respect of stature, being barely

three feet high; but he was a fine little fellow for all that, with good
strong, sturdy limbs and a frank, fearless face, which his bright blue
eyes and curling locks of brown hair ornamented to the best advantage.
As before mentioned, he had evidently not been prepared for a journey
when he made his unexpected appearance at the station, being without
a hat on his head and having a slightly soiled pinafore over his other
garments; while his little feet were encased in thin house shoes, or
slippers, that were ill adapted for walking through the mud and snow.
Now that the slight differences that had arisen between himself and the
nurse had been amicably settled, he was in the best of spirits, with his
little face puckered in smiles and his blue eyes twinkling with fun as he
looked up at the two observing him.
"He is a jolly little chap!" exclaimed Jupp, bending down and lifting
him up in his strong arms, the mite the while playfully pulling at his
black beard; "and I tell you what, miss, I think he's got a very good
nurse to look after him!"
"Do you?" said she, adding a moment afterwards as she caught Jupp's
look of admiration, "Ah, that's only what you say now. You didn't think
so when I first came in here after him; for you asked me not to beat
him-- as if I would!"
"Lor', I never dreamt of such a thing!" cried he with much emphasis,
the occasion seeming to require it. "I only said that to coax you like,
miss. I didn't think as