t, no doubt, because "Missis was so
partial to them." And there was great rejoicing, as you can fancy, when
one autumn Mamma told her little boys that they were going down into the
country to spend September with an old aunt, who lived not far from
where Mamma herself had lived when she "was a little girl."

"And is there those funny things--mush--mush--I forget the name--there?"
asked Dick.

"Mushrooms?" said Mamma. "Oh, yes, in September there will be plenty, no
doubt," she replied.

"And your birthday's in September," said Lancey. "Oh, Mamma, oh, Dick!"
he went on, giving a great spring in his delight, "just think--we can
gather mushrooms for it--nice, _wild_ mushrooms, that taste ever so much
better than the ones you buy in the shops, don't they, Mamma, darling?"

"Than forced mushrooms, you mean, Lancey," she replied. "Yes, forced
mushrooms, that means mushrooms grown in hot-houses, or hot-beds;" for
she saw on the boys' lips the question, "what are forced mushrooms,
please?" "never have the same flavour, I am sure. Besides, one hasn't
the fun of hunting for them, and gathering them one's self. I am sure
you will enjoy that part of it."

"I am sure we shall. I am sure we shall like Fernimoor _much_ better
than the seaside," said both boys--"even though we have liked it very
much," added tender-hearted Dick. He was so afraid of Mamma being at all
hurt, if she fancied he meant that they had _not_ enjoyed the seaside
after all the trouble and expense she and papa had been at to take them
there. For, as he told Lancey afterwards, he was sure he had seen Papa
pay _three_ gold pounds for their railway tickets at the station the day
they came.

[Illustration]

"I hope you will enjoy it very much," said Mamma kindly, "and I am sure
you will, and so shall I. It will be so nice to show my little boys some
of the places I loved when I was as little as they are."

"And to teach us how to find musherrooms," said Dick, quite satisfied he
had got the hard word right this time.

Fernimoor turned out to be very nice, quite as nice as the boys'
pleasantest fancies had pictured it. The old-fashioned house was the
funniest and prettiest in the world, so was the garden, and the uncle
and aunt were the kindest and nicest of old uncles and aunts. There was
only one disappointment--and that was the mushrooms!

There had been a good crop of them, said Auntie, a week or two ago, but
since then it had been so dry--the whole seaso