Lom's Letter to the Queen. 71

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Tom’s papa caught him round the waist,
and held him prisoner, laughing.

“ Now,” he said, “I won’t let you go till
you show it me. Come, where is it ?”

“Well, here,” said Tom, slowly. “I sup-
pose I must. Don’t dirty it, please. I should
like to take it home, and show it to mamma.
She would be so pleased to see I could write
a whole letter all by myself without blotting
it.”

His papa read it through, He could
scarcely stand for laughing.

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“Certainly,” he said; “by all means. Take
it home, and show it to mamma. What made
you think of such a thing, Tom ?”

“TI wanted to go, dreadfully,” said Tom,
“and you wouldn’t let me, unless she asked
me. And so I wrote to ask her to ask me.
Mayn’t I send it, papa?”

“No, answered he; “certainly not. It
would never do.”

Tom did not understand what would never
do. | :

“Well,” said he at last, with a sigh, “I