lets thoo take them. Thoo took soap and
somesing else, and he said he'd send them home for thoo."

"Yes, dear, so he did," said his mother. "But I _pay_ him for them. You
didn't see me paying him, because I don't pay him every time. He puts
down all I get in a book, and then he counts up how much it is every
month, and then I send him the money. In some shops I pay as soon as I
get the things. You saw me pay the shoemaker for little Cissy's boots
and shoes."

"Ses," said Ted, "I saw thoo take money out of thoo's purse, but I
didn't understand. I thought all those kind men kept nice things for us
to get whenever we wanted."

"But what did you think money was for, little Ted? You have often seen
money, shillings and sixpences and pennies? What did you think was the
use of it?"

"I thought," said Ted innocently, "I thought moneys was for giving to
poor peoples."

His mother could hardly resist stooping down in the street to kiss him.
But she knew it was better not. Ted must be made to understand that in
his innocence he had done a wrong thing, and the lesson of to-day must
be made a plain and lasting one.

"What would poor people do with money if they could get all the things
they wanted out of the shops for nothing?" she said quietly.

Ted considered a moment. Then he looked up brightly.

"In course!" he said. "I never thought of that."

"And don't you see, dear Ted, that it would be wrong to take things
out of a shop without paying for them? They _belong_ to the man of the
shop--it would be just like some one coming to our house and taking away
your father's coat or my bonnet, or your little blue cart that you like
so much, or----"

"Or Cissy's bootly boo boots," suggested Ted, clutching hold more
tightly of the parcel, as if he thought the imaginary thief might be
at hand.

"Yes," said his mother, "or Cissy's new boots, which are mine _now_
because I paid money for them to the man."

"Ses," said Ted. Then a very thoughtful expression came into his face.
"Muzzer," he said, "this soda was that man's--sall I take it back to him
and tell him I didn't understand?"

"Yes," said his mother. "I do think it is the best thing to do. Shall we
go at once? It is only just round the corner to his shop."

She said this thinking that little Ted would find it easier to do it
at once, for she was sorry for her little boy having to explain to a
stranger the queer mistake he had made, though she felt it was right
that it