254 Tommy Twister’s Discover
ay, e

and queens who left their duties for other
people to do! One cannot get away from
them: and as their dates must be learned
by somebody, now that they are not here
to do the work themselves,
I suppose the best way
is to learn them and
have done with it; and,
once having learned
them, let us be sure
not to forget them ; for
they may be useful one
day. Ata party, for in-
stance, when one has just
been introduced to some-
body and cannot find
anything to say, the dates
of the kings and queens
invencstep of England since the
« Dares?” Conquest might come in
very nicely and prevent

an awkward silence.)
Tommy placed his hands behind him
and tried. He got on fairly well on the
whole; and as his father had forgotten