could not be better taken care of than by his four-footed friend.

There was another friend, too, who could very well be trusted to take
care of Ted, for though he had, of course, a very kind, good nurse in
the house, nurses are not able to be the whole day long in the garden,
nor are they always very fond of being much there. So, even though Ted
was still quite a little boy, it was very nice for him to have two such
good out-door friends as Cheviott and David the gardener, the other one
I am going to tell you of.

It was a beautiful spring day. Ted woke up early, and thought to himself
how nice and bright and sunny it was going to be in the garden. He was
rather in a hurry to be dressed, for there were several things he was
in a hurry to do, and the days, in summer time especially, never seemed
long enough for all he had before him. Just now these summer days seemed
really brimming over with nice things, for his big cousin Percy--at
least he was what _Ted_ counted a "big" cousin, and he was a good many
years older than Ted--was with him for the holidays, and though Percy
had some lessons to do, still they had a good deal of time together.

"Ted wonders if Percy is 'decked' yet," said Ted to his nurse. "Decked"
was the word he always used for "dressed," and he was often made fun of
for using it. His mind was very full of Percy this morning, for he had
only arrived the evening before, and besides the pleasure of having him
with him, which was _always_ a pleasure, there was the nice newness of
it,--the things he had to show Percy, the tricks Chevie had learnt, big
dog though he was, the letters and little words Ted had himself mastered
since Percy was last there.

"I don't know that Master Percy will be ready quite so early this
morning," said nurse. "He may be a little tired with travelling
yesterday."

"Ted doesn't _zink_ Percy will be tired," said Ted. "Percy wants to see
the garden. Percy is so big, isn't he, nurse? Percy can throw sticks up
in the sky _so_ high. Percy throwed one up in the sky up to heaven, so
high that it _never_ comed down again."

"Indeed," said nurse; "are you quite sure of that, Master Ted? Perhaps
it did come down again, but you didn't see it."

Nurse was a sensible person, you see. She did not all at once begin
saying to Ted that he was talking nonsense, or worse still that he was
telling stories. For very little children often "romance" in a sweet
innocent way which has nothing whate