for mother to come to church
with me, and I went up and looked at it. Ipse said to me, "Just put one
finger in it." And I had to fight him very hard over that, but I ran away
out of the room.'

'And do you always fight him hard?'

'No; I often forget till it's too late. Mother said I must ask my Captain
to make me remember. I do ask Him a lot to help me.'

'I don't think I like that sort of fighting.'

'Nancy, I wish you'd give yourself to God as His soldier.' Teddy turned
round earnestly as he spoke.

'I think,' said Nancy slowly, 'I like to be naughty best.' Then she
added, with quick change of tone, 'My father is coming home soon, and
he'll come to see us here. Then you'll see what a grand sailor he is. He
is much grander than your father was.'

'My father was an officer,' said Teddy proudly.

'So's my father; he is a first-class petty officer'; and Nancy brought
out the words slowly and with much emphasis.

'My father was a non-commissioned officer,' said Teddy, determining not
to be beaten; 'he was a full sergeant.'

'My father gives orders to all the sailors, and they have to do what he
tells them.'

'So did my father, and he led the soldiers through a battle.'

'My father will fight in twenty battles before he dies, and yours only
fought in one.'

'My father is in heaven, and that's the grandest place to be in.'

Coming to this climax was too much for Nancy, and the thoughts of
that place of which they had been having so much talk subdued their
rising ire.

Teddy said reproachfully, after a minute's silence, 'Ipse was nearly
getting angry with you then. You're such a dreadful girl for making me
quarrel with you.'

'You won't let me say my father is as good as yours,' protested Nancy.

'He isn't better. Yes--don't get angry, Nancy; let's say they're just
the same.'

And with this admission Nancy was for the time pacified.

Before they parted she looked at her little companion with solemn eyes.

'I won't promise, but I'll think about belonging to the Captain. I should
like to go to heaven.'

It was one day soon after this that Teddy was straying over the fields in
his happy, careless fashion; fond as he was of games with the village
boys, often there were times when he liked his own society best, and he
wandered on talking to himself, and gathering grass and wild-flowers as
he went. His quick eyes soon noted some sheep making their way through a
gap in the hedge, and from thence they were