me to be a Free Moral Agent," said Rosamond.

"I don't like agents," said Miss Muffet, and then she was sorry that she
had been so rude. "I mean I don't believe in being one till one is more
grown up. And now that we are talking about it, maybe you could tell me
what the other line means,--

'While on the stithy glows the steel.'"

[Illustration: "_You dear little Rosamond_"]

"A stithy," said Rosamond, "is a kind of blacksmith shop."

"Now I know what every word means," said Miss Muffet, "but what was it
all about?"

"It was poetry."

"I suppose that this evening you had to choose between the Symposium and
the rest of the party where they don't have papers? And you are glad you
chose the Symposium?"

"No, I'm not," said Rosamond impulsively.

"You dear little Rosamond!" cried Miss Muffet, throwing her arms about
her. "The annealing's come off. Now let's go where there's music."

[Illustration: Chapter VII]

As she returned from the Symposium, Miss Muffet was compelled to pass
through some of the more remote parts of the palace, and whom should she
see but the Caliph Haroun al Raschid, whom she recognized at once
because he was in full disguise. He had no sooner come to the party than
he had begun to poke around in search of adventures, as was his habit.
At length he found two little girls engaged in a violent quarrel over a
lamb. One was beating the other over the head with a crook, and accusing
her of theft. This was just what the Caliph was after, and summoning the
girls before him, he prepared to try the case. The younger girl, whose
name was Mary, testified that the lamb had followed her to school. The
elder girl, known as Bo-Peep, stated that on that same day she had lost
her whole flock of sheep.

"This is a strange coincidence," said Haroun al Raschid: "one girl loses
her sheep and another has one in her possession. There is a great
mystery here that must be looked into. Appear before me to-morrow,
little girls, and tell me your stories." And then he added, with a
terrible frown and an expressive glance at the executioner,--"And be
sure, little girls, that your stories are interesting."

Miss Muffet had hoped to have a long quiet talk with Haroun al Raschid
and to ask him ever so many questions. But when she saw the executioner
she changed her mind, and she felt, too, that the Caliph was more used
to asking questions than to answering them.

It was a great relief, therefore, t