As no one seemed eager to answer the summons they
knocked again; and then again. Finally they heard a
stir from within and someone coughed.
"Who's there?" called a girl's voice.
"It's I!" cried the tin twins, together.
"How did you get there?" asked the voice.
They hesitated how to reply, so Woot answered for
them:
"By means of magic."
"Oh," said the unseen girl. "Are you friends, or
foes?"
"Friends!" they all exclaimed.
Then they heard footsteps approach the door, which
slowly opened and revealed a very pretty Munchkin 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 eves on the visitors with a cold and indifferent
stare that was almost insolent.
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