There was now no sign of them, save where here and there a gnarled arm or burly bended knee seemed to push up from the ground. But these were so covered with mould and moss that it was impossible to tell them from the fallen tree-trunks or mounds of earth. Harold and Robert and Richard did not disturb these mossy mysteries. In times of peace it is better to let sleeping Gnomes lie. Only the makers of ammunition and warships and newspaper scareheads (of whom there were none in King Victor's land) would be eager to see those busy-bodies awake and at their malicious work again, causing peaceful places to become a Great Fear. When the happy fortnight ended, the Red King went back to his Kingdom and his little Princess Hope, taking with him the beautiful Lady Anyse. Then began a time of peace in that hitherto restless land; a time of peace and prosperity and happiness, of neighborliness and the exchange of friendly doings. King Victor went to visit the erstwhile War-Lord, and in that time taught the Red King many useful arts of peace. And who, think you, went with King Victor on that visit? Who but the good Librarian and Harold, his adopted son. The Librarian had his pockets full of plans for a grand new library to be established in the Capital of Red Rex. And Harold had his pockets full of stories for the little Princess, and his bag full of sweetmeats for that same wee lady, made by his kind mother who was now pie-maker-general to the Red King, according as they had planned. Harold and the Princess Hope, who was the dearest of little girls in pink-and-gold, became the best of friends. And when the following summer she came with Red Rex and the Queen Anyse to live in the hut in the Ancient Wood and play at being wood-folk, Harold and Richard and Robert came also. The three boys encamped (like Boy Scouts) in the woods close by the hollow tree which had once been the cell of the Hermit Gnome. And they used his house for their cooling cellar! ***** So ended the Siege of Kisington, where the books conquered. And the days of peace continued until the time when Harold, having become a famous scholar, was chosen Librarian and Governor of Kisington. In those days there were no more forts or walls or jealous boundaries between the Kingdoms; for the lands were one in peace and good-will. There were no armies or weapons or disputes; for the nations understood and loved and trusted one another, and their rulers were wise men and women. In those days the Princess Hope had become the most beautiful book-loving maiden in the world, and the wise Governor of her father's fairest city, adjoining Kisington. Of course you can guess what happened next? And they lived happy ever after. THE END The Riverside Press Cambridge, Massachusetts U.S.A