t must
be! And then as his own father's voice went on, it all came before Ted
like a picture--he had once seen a picture of it, he thought--the first
setting-out of old Joseph and the sweet-faced mother, the distress and
fear, the delight of finding the Child again, and then the long walk
home all together to the carpenter's shop in the narrow Eastern street.
And, child-like, Ted's fancy turned again with the association to what
was before him this morning. _He_ was to go to the carpenter's to choose
the wood for the seat in the tree, and oh, how delightful it would be to
see it arranged, and how surprised Percy would be, and what beautiful
rows of stick-sticks Cissy and he would be able to make to help Uncle
Ted. All kinds of pleasant hopes and fancies were racing round Ted's
brain again as he knelt down with the others to listen to the prayer
that followed the reading. It was not till the murmured chorus of "Our
Father," repeated all together at the end, caught his ear, that with a
sudden start Ted realised that he had not been listening.

He did feel sorry and ashamed, but he was so happy that morning, the
world outside was so bright and sunny, and the people inside so kind
and cheerful, as they all sat round the breakfast table, that Ted's
self-reproach did not last. And as soon as he had finished the short
morning lessons he had to do in the holidays, he got leave from mother
to go off to order the plank for the seat.

It turned out a little dearer than he had expected. Two and sevenpence
were the funds in hand.

"I could give you a piece of wood for much less of course, sir," said
the good-natured carpenter, who was a great ally of Ted's, "but as you
explain it to me it needs something more than a bit of wood, else it
wouldn't be safe for you and the young lady to sit on;" and then he
showed the boy how it should be done, with a small iron bolt driven into
the wall and another of a different kind fixed to the tree. "Then," said
he, "it will be as safe as safe, and I'll plane you a neat little seat
with no splinters or sharp edges to tear Missy's frocks."

Ted was delighted. His quick eye caught at once the carpenter's plan,
and he saw how much more satisfactory and complete it would be than the
rough idea he had had at first. But the price? Ted felt much afraid that
here was to be the difficulty.

"How much will it cost, Mr. Newton?" he inquired anxiously.

The carpenter reflected a moment.

"Wood, so much