No, _I_ ain't bin nowhere partickler.... Settled? yus, it's all settled 'bout me goin' ter the kerntry.... To-morrer? no, I ain't goin' _to-morrer_.... Nex' week? not as I _knows_ on.... You wanter know sech a _lot_, you do!... If I _do_ tell yer, you'll on'y go an' larf.... Well, I ain't goin' at all--_now_ I 'ope you're pleased.... What's the good o' bein' _sorry?_... Oh, I don't keer much, I don't.... Set down on this step alonger me, then, and don' you go sayin' nuffink, or I'll stop tellin' yer.... You remember me goin' in yes'day arternoon to 'ear what the lidy said? Well, when I got in, I 'eard 'er s'y, "Yus, it'll be a great disappintment fur 'IM, pore boy," she sez, "arter lookin' forward to it an' all; but it can't be 'elped." An' Muvver, she sez, "'Is Farver'll be sorry, too; it done JIMMY ser much good larst time. 'E can't pay not more nor 'arf-a-crownd a week towards it, but he can manage that, bein' in work jes now." But the lidy sez, "It's this w'y," she sez, "it costis us neelly arf a suffering over what the parints pays fur each child, and we ain't got the fun's fur to send more 'n a few, 'cos the Public don' suscroibe ser much as they might," she sez. "An' so this year we're on'y sending children as is delikit, an' reelly _wants_ a chinge." So yer see, I ain't a goin'. I dunno as I'm delikit; but I _do_ want the kerntry _orful_ bad, I do. I wish I never 'adn't bin there at all, 'cos then preps I shouldn' mind. An' yit I'm gled I bin, too. I dreamt about it larst night, FLORRIE, I did. I was a-settin' on this 'ere step, sime as I am now, an' it was 'ot an' stoiflin', like it is; an' all of a suddink I see Mr. KENNISTER'S cart wiv the grey 'orse turn into our court an' pull up hoppersite, an' _Bob Rumble_ 'e was a-drivin' on it. An 'e sez "Jump up!" he sez, "and I'll tike yer back to Mr. DELVES'S cottidge." And I sez, "May FLORRIE come too." An 'he sez, "Yus, both on yer." So up we gits, an' we was droivin' along the lanes, an' I was showin' yer the squills an' the stagses, an' jes as we come to the turn where yer kin see the cottidge----Well, I don' remember no more on it. But it was a noice dream so fur as I got wiv it, an' if I 'adn't never bin there, I couldn' ha' dreamt it, _could_ I, eh? An', like as not, I'll dream the rest on it anuvver night.... An' you must try an' dream your share, too, FLORRIE. It'll be a'most like bein' in the kerntry in a sort o' w'y fur both on us, won't it? THE MORAL.--The offices of the Children's Country Holidays Fund are at 10, Buckingham Street, Strand, and contributions should be made payable to the Hon. Treasurer. * * * * * "Now I'm set up!" as the first page in type observed to his companion pages in MS. * * * * * "RULE, 'BRITANNYER'!" _Being a loyal letter from Mr. Jeames, at Cowes Regatta, to Mary in Mayfair._