'There, go to your mother, she's in the dairy; I wash my hands of you.'
But Teddy crept up to his little room to change his wet clothes before he met his mother, and then was very silent about his adventure, merely saying, by way of explanation, that he had fallen into the brook; but at tea, a short time after, he suddenly said,—
'If you put a sailor and a soldier together, which would you choose,
Uncle Jake?'
'Eh, my laddie? Well, they're both good in their way. I couldn't say,
I'm sure.'
'Mother, wouldn't you say the soldier was the bravest?'
'Perhaps I might, sonny; but a sailor can be quite as brave.'
Teddy's face fell. 'I never thought a sailor could fight at all,' he said, in a disappointed tone; 'I thought they just took care of our ships, and now and then fired a big gun off.'
'Who's been bringing up the sailors to you?' asked his grandmother.
'That little girl I told you of—Nancy her name is.'
'Where have you seen her?'