fter time to ask him, with solemn face "Please, sir, is this the
country?" and when at last he allowed that it was, rejoined,
"Then, please, where are the nuts?"

The clothing of most of the Irish boys began to tumble to pieces
in an alarming manner. Grey had insisted on their being made tidy
for the occasion, but the tidiness was of a superficial kind. The
hasty stitching soon began to give way, and they were rushing
about with wild locks; the strips of what once might have been
nether garments hanging about their legs; their feet and heads
bare, the shoes which their mothers had borrowed for the state
occasion having been deposited under the seat of the van. So,
when the procession arrived at the trim lodge-gates of their
hostess, and his charge descended and fell in on the beautifully
clipped turf at the side of the drive, Tom felt some of the
sensations of Falstaff when he had to lead his ragged regiment
through Coventry streets.

He was soon at his ease again, and enjoyed the clay thoroughly,
and the drive home; but, as they drew near town again, a sense of
discomfort and shyness came over him, and he wished the journey
to Westminster well over, and hoped that the carman would have
the sense to go through the quiet parts of the town.

He was much disconcerted consequently, when the vans came to a
sudden stop opposite one of the Park entrances, in the Bayswater
Road. "What in the world is Grey about?" he thought, as he saw
him get out, and all the children after him. So he got out
himself, and went forward to get an explanation.

"Oh I have told the man that he need not drive us round to
Westminster. He is close at home here, and his horses have had a
hard day; so we can just get out and walk home."

"What, across the Park?" asked Tom.

"Yes, it will amuse the children, you know."

"But they're tired," persisted Tom; "come now, it's all nonsense
letting the fellow off; he's bound to take us back."

"I'm afraid I have promised him," said Grey; "besides, the
children all think it a treat. Don't you all want to walk across
the Park?" he went on turning to them, and a general affirmative
chorus was the answer. So Tom had nothing for it but to shrug his
shoulders, empty his own van, and follow into the Park with his
convoy, not in the best humor with Grey for having arranged this
ending to their excursion.

They might have got over a third of the distance between the
Bayswater Road and the Serpentine, when h