Teddy | Page 9

to their
father's coat-tails as if afraid he would get away from them again; and
so, in a motley procession, Teddy apparently king of the situation and
Jupp and Mary still bringing up the rear, they marched into the hall,
where Molly the cook, having heard the door bang when the little girls
rushed out, was waiting with a light to receive them.
"Take the porter to the kitchen, Molly," said Mr Vernon, "and give him,
mind, a good cup of tea for bringing home Master Teddy. But for his
kindness we might not perhaps have seen the little truant again--to-
night, at all events."
"Lawks a mercy, sir!" ejaculated Molly with open-mouth astonishment,
curtseying and smiling: "you doant mean that?"
"Yes, I do," went on Mr Vernon. "Mind you take every care of him, for
the porter is a right good fellow."
"Why, sir, I didn't do nothing to speak of, sir," said Jupp, quite abashed
at being made so much of. "The young gen'leman commed to me, and
in course, seeing as how he were such a little chap and all alone out in
the cold, I couldn't do nothing else."
"Never mind that; I'm very much obliged to you, and so are all of us.
What you've got to do now is to go with Molly and have a good cup of
tea, the same as we are going to have after that long tramp in the
snow," said the vicar cordially, shaking hands with Jupp; while Teddy,
who was still perched on his father's shoulder, came out with a "tank oo,
my dood man," which made everybody laugh.
Jupp hesitatingly attempted to decline the proffered hospitality,
murmuring something about being wanted down at the station; but the
vicar wouldn't hear of his refusal, the more especially as Mary
reminded him that he had asked in her hearing his fellow-porter to look
after his work in his absence.

So, presently, in heart nothing loth in spite of his excuses, he was
following Molly the cook down the passage into her warm kitchen at
the back of the house; while Mr Vernon, opening a door on the
opposite side of the hall to the drawing-room, entered the parlour,
where fortunately the fire, thanks to Molly's care, had not been allowed
to go out, but was dancing merrily in the grate-lighting up the
bright-red curtains that were closely drawn across the windows,
shutting out the gloomy prospect outside, and throwing flickering
shadows against the walls of the apartment as the jets of flame rose and
fell.
Nurse Mary at first wanted to march off Master Teddy to bed, on the
plea that he must be wet through and tired out with all the exposure he
had undergone during his erratic escapade; but the young gentleman
protesting indignantly against his removal whilst there was a chance of
his sitting up with the rest, and his clothes having been found on
examination to be quite dry on the removal of the porter's protecting
jacket, he was allowed to remain, seated on the hearth-rug in state, and
never once leaving hold of the tabby kitten that had indirectly led to his
wandering away from home, with Conny and Liz and little Cissy
grouped around him.
Here by the cosy fireside the reunited family had quite a festive little
meal together, enlivened by the children's chatter, Miss Conny pouring
out the tea with great dignity as her father said laughingly, and Teddy,
unchecked by the presence of his nurse, who was too prone to calling
him to account for sundry little breaches of etiquette for him to be
comfortable when she was close by.
While the happy little party were so engaged, Jupp was being regaled
sumptuously in the kitchen with both Molly the cook and Mary to
minister to his wants, the latter handmaiden having returned from the
parlour after carrying in the tea-tray.
Jupp was in a state of supreme satisfaction ensconced between the two,
munching away at the pile of nice hot buttered toast which the cook
had expressly made for his delectation, and recounting between the
mouthfuls wonderful yarns connected with his seafaring experiences

for Mary's edification.
Joe the gardener, who had also come back to the house shortly after the
others, with the report that he "couldn't see nothing of Master Teddy
nowheres," sat in the chimney-corner, gazing at the porter with envious
admiration as he told of his hairbreadth scapes at sea and ashore when
serving in the navy. Joe wished that he had been a sailor too, as then
perhaps, he thought, the nurse, for whom he had a sneaking sort of
regard, might learn to smile and look upon him in the same admiring
way, in which, as he could see with half an eye, she regarded