ew minutes!"

"Suppose he couldn't have done it," said Willie. "Do you think the
watchmaker could?"

"That I can't tell, but I don't think it likely. We should most probably
have had to get a new one."

"Suppose you couldn't get a new one?"

"Then we should have had to set our wits to work, and contrive some
other way of fastening the door, so that mamma shouldn't take cold by
its being open, nor yet be disturbed by the noise of it."

"It would be so nice to be able to do everything!" said Willie.

"So it would; but nobody can; and it's just as well, for then we should
not need so much help from each other, and would be too independent."

"Then shouldn't a body try to do as many things as he can?"

"Yes, for there's no fear of ever being able to do without other people,
and you would be so often able to help them. Both the smith and the
watch maker could mend a lock, but neither of them could do without the
other for all that."

When Willie went to bed, he lay awake a long time, thinking how, if the
lock could not have been mended, and there had been no other to be had,
he could have contrived to keep the door shut properly. In the morning,
however, he told his father that he had not thought of any way that
would do, for though he could contrive to shut and open the door well
enough, he could not think how a person outside might be able to do it;
and he thought the best way, if such a difficulty should occur, would be
to take the lock off his door, and put it on mamma's till a better
one could be got. Of this suggestion his father, much to Willie's
satisfaction, entirely approved.

CHAPTER IV.

HE SERVES AN APPRENTICESHIP.

Willie's mother grew better, and Willie's sister grew bigger; and the
strange nurse went away, and Willie and his mother and Tibby, with a
little occasional assistance from the doctor, managed the baby amongst
them. Considering that she had been yet only a short time at school,
she behaved wonderfully well. She never cried except she was in some
trouble, and even then you could seldom have seen a tear on her face.
She did all that was required of her, grew longer and broader and
heavier, and was very fond of a lighted candle. The only fault she had
was that she wouldn't give Willie quite so many smiles as he wanted. As
to the view she took of affairs, she seemed for a long time to be on the
whole very well satisfied with life and its gifts. But when at last its
troubles began t