---------------------------------

TEDDIE, THE HELPER.

"I'll give you two sovereigns for the five. It's a good price, but I
mean it."

"I've told you I can't part with them," was Teddie Braham's reply to
this offer of his schoolfellow, Gerald Keith, to buy his pet rabbits.
"What, sell little Stripe, and Pickles, and old Brownie, and Spot, and
Longears! I should be very badly off before I should do such a thing."

"Perhaps you think I haven't got the money. See for yourself," and
Gerald displayed three glittering sovereigns.

"Are they all yours?" Teddie asked in amazement.

"Yes. It was my birthday yesterday; mother and father each gave me one,
and Uncle Dick the other. You've only to say the word and two of them
are yours. You have such a lot of pets, you won't miss your rabbits."

But Teddie was not to be tempted. He shook his head, smiling a little
scornfully. Almost instantly, however, the smile changed into a look of
alarm. One of the coins slipped from its owner's hand, rolled along the
pathway, and before either of the boys could stop it, fell down the
grating of a drain. For a moment Gerald, too, looked pale; then he broke
into a laugh.

"It can't be helped," he said, "and there's plenty more where that came
from. The worst of it is, mother told me not to carry the money about
with me; but she'll give me another sovereign quick enough if I ask her.
My father, you know, is one of the richest men about here."

He said it boastingly, and Teddy, having left his schoolfellow where the
road branched off to their respective homes, went on his way, on that
sunshiny June afternoon, thinking, rather seriously, how pleasant it
must be to be as rich as Gerald. True, he had a great deal to make him
happy; but, though comfortably off, his parents were not rich, and
Teddie's mind dwelt longingly on the pony, the beautiful little
tricycle, and handsome gold watch, of which Gerald was the proud
possessor.

On reaching home, Teddie went straight to the drawing-room to find his
mother. But a visitor was with her, and he had to wait before he could
ask her to put on her hat and go out in the garden with him. He took up
a book and sat down quietly. In a few minutes, however, his attention
was caught by the conversation between the two ladies.

Mrs. Taylor, the visitor, told a sad story of a working-man, who, in
consequence of an accident, had been unable to earn a penny for several
weeks. His wife was also in bad hea