of the whole affair was certainly Dick Flummery, who
introduced his new and sensational _Danse a trois Jambes_, entirely his own
invention!

What Dick doesn't know about dancing isn't worth knowing, and he says all
the steps that _can_ be done with two legs have _been_ done, and for
_anything_ really novel another leg must be added. So he's had a clockwork
leg made, and he winds it up before beginning and makes its movements blend
in with the steps of his _real_ legs, and the effect is simply enormous!

People wrote to Wee-Wee from far and near begging to come and see "Hold
Tight, Please!"--that's the name of the rector's _revue_--so we decided to
give it in the village school-room for charity. Since then Dick's been
fairly snowed under with offers from London managers. They offer him big
terms, and if his colonel decides that the prestige of the regiment won't
suffer through one of its officers doing a three-legged dance at the Halls
Dick will accept. If the colonel objects, Dick will still accept, for then
he'll send in his papers, and go on the music-hall stage in earnest.

The rector has also had good offers for "Hold Tight, Please!" and he's busy
toning it down before it's given in front of the dear old prudish public.
He made us laugh one evening by telling us how he met his bishop lately at
a Church Congress or something, and the bishop said, "There's a report that
you've been seen once or twice lately at the Up-to-Date Variety Theatre,
Piccadilly Square, London. You're able to contradict it, of course?" "Oh,
that's quite all right, bishop," answered the dear rector; "I _have_ run up
to town several times in order to go to the Up-to-Date, but it was for
business, not amusement. I'm responsible for the new ballet there, 'Fun,
Frills and Frocks.'" So of course the bishop had no more to say.

I was talking to Norty yesterday about the state of Europe, and _when_
we're to know who's who in the Near East, and which of the kingdoms out
there are to be absorbed or abolished or allowed to go on; and he threw a
new light on things by telling me that these matters are a good deal in the
hands of the _stamp-collectors_--that when _they_ agree among themselves as
to what's to be done it _will_ be done. A great many people who matter very
much indeed are stamp-collectors, it seems, and it would make an _immense_
difference in the value of their collections if certain countries were
absorbed or abolished or allowed to go on.