Teddys Button | Page 2

'Then I tell you, boy, I don't believe a word of it!' And with set
determined lips she turned on her heel and walked away, having sown
seeds of anger and resentment in more than one boyish breast.
'Who is she?' asked Teddy as, tired and exhausted by his recital, he
threw himself on the grass to rest. One of the bigger boys answered
him.
'I seed her come yesterday in a cab from the town to old Sol at the
turnpike--she and her mother, I reckon. They had two carpet bags and a
box and a poll parrot in a cage. I counted them myself, for I was havin'
a ride behind, and the woman she called Sol "Father," so the little 'un
must be his grandarter!'
'P'raps they've come from 'Mericky,' suggested a small urchin, capering
round on his hands and feet. 'Polls allays comes over the sea, you
know.'
[Illustration: TEDDY TELLS THE STORY OF HIS FATHER'S
HEROIC DEATH.]
'She didn't believe me,' murmured Teddy, chewing a wisp of grass
meditatively.
'Gals is no good, never! If she'd been a boy you would 'a fought her, but
I shouldn't care for naught like her, Ted.'
Teddy turned his face upwards to the speaker. 'No, I couldn't have
fought her, Sam, if she'd been a boy. I've promised my mother I won't
fight again till she gives me leave. You see, I fought four boys in one
week last time, and she says she won't have it. I don't see if it is right
for soldiers to fight, why it isn't right for boys!'
'I don't think there's any fellers left for you to fight with, so you're

pretty safe. Besides, it was only Tom Larken, who set them on to try
and get your button from you, and he's gone off to another part of the
country now.'
'I think, p'raps,' went on Teddy slowly, as he turned over on his back
and looked up at the clear blue sky above him, 'that I wasn't quite true
about the bullets. I think it was six bullets and three sword cuts. I forget
when I tell it how many it was; but she said she didn't believe a word!'
Five o'clock struck by the old church clock close by. Teddy was upon
his feet in an instant, and with a wild whoop and shout he was scudding
across the green, his curls flying in the wind, and his little feet hardly
seeming to touch the ground. There was none in the village so
quick-footed as Teddy, and for daring feats and downright pluck he
held the foremost place. Perhaps this accounted for his popularity,
perhaps it was his marvellous aptitude for telling stories, many of them
wild productions from his fertile brain, but certain it was that he was
the pet and the darling of the village, and none as yet had resisted his
sway.
Over the green, up a shady lane, across two fields, and then, breathless
and panting, Teddy paused before an old-fashioned farmhouse. He
passed his hands lightly through his curls, pulled himself up with a jerk,
and then quietly and sedately opened a latched door and entered the
long low-roofed kitchen.
There was something very restful in the scene. A square substantial
table covered with a white cloth, in the centre a large bowl of roses and
honeysuckle: home-made bread and golden butter, a glass dish of
honey in its comb, a plate of fresh watercress, and a currant loaf
completed the simple fare. Presiding at the tea-tray was a stern,
forbidding-looking woman of sixty or more, opposite her was seated
her son, the master of the farm, a heavy-faced, sleepy-looking man; and
at his side, facing the door, sat Teddy's mother. A sweet gentle-faced
young woman she was, with the same deep blue eyes as her little son;
she bore no resemblance to the elder woman, and looked, as she indeed
was, superior to her surroundings. Two years ago she had come with
her child to make her home amongst her husband's people, and though

at first her mother-in-law, Mrs. Platt, was inclined to look upon her
contemptuously as a poor, delicate, useless creature, time proved to her
that for steady, quiet work no one could eclipse her daughter-in-law.
Young Mrs. John, as she was called, was now her right hand, and the
dairy work of the farm was made over entirely to her.
'Late again, you young scamp!' was the stern greeting of his
grandmother, as Teddy appeared on the scene.
The boy looked at her with a twinkle in his eye, put his little hand to his
forehead, and gave her a military salute.
'Sorry,' was all he said as he slipped into the chair that was waiting for
him.
'What have you