Mrs. Harding laughed merrily over Teddy’s triumphant march down the aisle in his stewpan headgear. “He must be a funny little boy, Harry,” she said. “You must bring him home with you to supper, some night.”
“Oh, may I?” Harry’s eyes shone. “That will be fine. I know Ted can come. He says his mother lets him do whatever he pleases. Do you know, Mothery,” this was Harry’s pet name for his mother, “I feel a little bit sorry for Ted, to think his mother doesn’t make a fuss over him like you do over me. She belongs to some kind of a club, and she’s always going off to it, so Ted hardly sees her in the evenings. You see, he isn’t so poor as we are. He doesn’t have to work if he doesn’t want to. He can go to school. His father’s dead, too, but his mother has money enough to take care of her and Teddy so long as they both live. He just started to work because he didn’t like school. Nobody cares much what he does.”
“The poor little mite!” sympathized Mrs. Harding. “You just bring him home with you. I’ll mother him.”
“You can’t help liking him. He’s such a jolly, funny little fellow,” was Harry’s enthusiastic reply.
But while the Hardings were discussing him, Teddy Burke was trying to put into execution his new plan of telling his mother everything. The moment he entered the hall of the two-story brick house which his mother owned, he hurried up the stairs to the sitting room. He drew aside the portiere and peeped in, then looked disappointed. There was no one there. Then he set off down the hall to her bedroom. The door was closed. He listened for an instant, then tapped on the door.
“Is that you, Teddy?” came in quick, business-like tones. “What do you want?”
“I want to see you. Can’t I come in?”
“Yes, but don’t bother me. I am going to a concert that the Mozart Club is giving to-night and I’m in a hurry. You’ll find your supper downstairs in the oven. I couldn’t wait for you.”
Teddy had entered the room while his mother was talking. He found her sitting before her dressing table in a kimono, arranging her hair.
“I just want to tell you about the kind of a day I had in the store,” he began bravely. “I started to work——”