THE Chief Gardener went into the next room, which was the library, and drew a cozy little settee up before the bright hickory fire. It was just wide enough for three, and when he sat down, Davy and Little Prue promptly hopped up, one on each side. In a low rocker near the window Big Prue was doing something with silks and needles and a very bright pair of scissors. The Chief Gardener stirred the fire and looked into it. Then he said: "Speaking of pease, I wonder if you ever heard this little song about 'THE TWO PEAS 'Oh, a little sweet-pea in the garden grew-- Hey, for the merry little sweet-pea! And a garden-pea, it grew there, too-- Hi, for the happy little eat-pea! In all kinds of weather They grew there together-- Ho, for the pease in the garden! Hey, for the sweet-pea! Hi, for the eat-pea! Hey, he, hi, ho, hum! 'Oh, the sweet-pea bloomed and the eat-pea bore-- Hey, for the merry little sweet-pea! And they both were sent to a poor man's door-- Hi, for the happy little eat-pea! In all kinds of weather They came there together! Ho, for the pease from the garden! Hey, for the sweet-pea! Hi, for the eat-pea! Hey, he, hi, ho, hum! 'Now, the poor man's poor little girl lay ill-- What a chance for a merry little sweet-pea! And there wasn't a cent in the poor man's till-- Good-by to the jolly little eat-pea! In all kinds of weather They brought joy together When they came from the happy little garden! Hey, for the sweet-pea! Hi, for the eat-pea! Hey, he, hi, ho, hum!'" "Was there really ever a poor man and a little sick girl who had pease sent to them?" asked little Prue, as the Chief Gardener finished. "Oh, I am sure there must have been! A great many of them." "But the ones you sung about. Those really same ones--did they ever really live, or did you make it up about them?" "I don't think my pease would be quite enough for a poor man who didn't have a cent of money," said Davy, after thinking about it. "But my sweet-pease will be enough, only I want to know if there is really such a little girl, so I can send them. Is there, Papa?" "Well, I am sure we can find such a little girl, if we try. And I know she'd be glad for some sweet-pease. And now here's a little story that I really didn't make up, but read a long time ago. "Once upon a time there were two friars--" "What are friars?" asked Prue. "Do they fry things?" "Well, not exactly, though one of these did do some stewing, and the other, too, perhaps, though in a different way. A friar is a kind of priest, and these two had done something which the abbot, who is the head priest, did not like, so he punished them." "What did they do?" asked Prue, who liked to know just what people could be punished for. "I don't remember now. It's so long--" "What do you _s'pose_ it was?"