girl standing in the doorway.

"Nimmie Amee!" cried the tin twins.

"That's my name," replied the girl, looking at them in cold surprise.
"But who can _you_ be?"

"Don't you know me, Nimmie?" said the Tin Woodman. "I'm your old
sweetheart, Nick Chopper!"

"Don't you know _me_, my dear?" said the Tin Soldier. "I'm your old
sweetheart, Captain Fyter!"

Nimmie Amee smiled at them both. Then she looked beyond them at the rest
of the party and smiled again. However, she seemed more amused than
pleased.

"Come in," she said, leading the way inside. "Even sweethearts are
forgotten after a time, but you and your friends are welcome."

The room they now entered was cosy and comfortable, being neatly
furnished and well swept and dusted. But they found someone there
besides Nimmie Amee. A man dressed in the attractive Munchkin costume
was lazily reclining in an easy chair, and he sat up and turned his eyes
on the visitors with a cold and indifferent stare that was almost
insolent. He did not even rise from his seat to greet the strangers, but
after glaring at them he looked away with a scowl, as if they were of
too little importance to interest him.

The tin men returned this man's stare with interest, but they did not
look away from him because neither of them seemed able to take his eyes
off this Munchkin, who was remarkable in having one tin arm--quite like
their own tin arms.

"Seems to me," said Captain Fyter, in a voice that sounded harsh and
indignant, "that you, sir, are a vile impostor!"

"Gently--gently!" cautioned the Scarecrow; "don't be rude to strangers,
Captain."

"Rude?" shouted the Tin Soldier, now very much provoked; "why, he's a
scoundrel--a thief! _The villain is wearing my own head!_"

"Yes," added the Tin Woodman, "and he's wearing my right arm! I can
recognize it by the two warts on the little finger."

"Good gracious!" exclaimed Woot. "Then this must be the man whom old
Ku-Klip patched together and named Chopfyt."

The man now turned toward them, still scowling.

[Illustration]

"Yes, that is my name," he said in a voice like a growl, "and it is
absurd for you tin creatures, or for anyone else, to claim my head, or
arm, or any part of me, for they are my personal property."

"You? You're a Nobody!" shouted Captain Fyter.

[Illustration]

"You're just a mix-up," declared the Emperor.

"Now, now, gentlemen," interrupted Nimmie Amee, "I must ask you to be
more respectful to poor Chop