“Tramp!” scorned the housekeeper. “Never but a solitary one ever did meander up here, an’ he’d lost his way and was on the road back when Young Ben met him.” “I think there is not the slightest danger,” Polly reassured those that had begun to look worried. “Do tell another story!” pleaded Jozy. “About the twin that didn’t know himself!” suggested Grissel. “Oh, no!” cried Timmy; “let’s have that one about the boy who killed the big wolf and got the money to go to school with.” “No, don’t!” shivered Muriel. “Please tell about the Ten Little Girls and Mr. Cross.” “We will put it to vote,” said Polly. “Those in favor of the Ten Little Girls, say ‘I.’” “That sounds like more than ten little girls,” she smiled, clapping her hands to her ears, as the chorus of shrill voices rang through the woods. All but two or three settled themselves with content, as the story-teller started in the good old-fashioned way. “Once upon a time ten little girls were on their way home from school. There were Eunice and Lucy and Jane and Susan and Nancy and Martha and Ruth, besides the three Marys--Mary Fox, Mary Lyon, and Mary Lamb. “Mary Fox was talking. “‘Let’s go over in the pasture and see those dear little lambs,’ she said. “‘Oh, I’m afraid of the sheep!’ gasped Susan. “‘They won’t hurt you,’ Ruth assured her. ‘Come!’ “The three Marys were already over the fence. The rest followed, timid Susan at the end of the line. “For an instant the sheep stared at their visitors; then the leader turned suddenly and vaulted a low stone wall into another field, and the rest dashed after him. It was over in a minute, and the sheep pasture was left in sole possession of the ten little girls. “They looked at one another with frightened eyes. “‘I wish we hadn’t come,’ mourned Mary Lamb, and the nine others said that they wished they had not come, too. “‘What will Mr. Cross say!’ cried Jane. ‘Jim Tucker says he is just like his name--Oh, dear! oh, dear!’ “‘Oh, dear! oh, dear!’ echoed the nine others. “‘Maybe the sheep will run away and never come back,’ said Nancy. “‘Maybe!’ agreed the rest. “‘I think we ought to go and tell Mr. Cross,’ ventured Mary Lamb. “‘Oh, I don’t dare!’ Mary Lyon said. “‘I don’t dare, either,’ said Mary Fox. “And the seven others said that they did not dare, too. “‘I dare,’ said Mary Lamb. ‘Anyway, if I don’t dare, I’ll go if you’ll all go with me.’ “The nine agreed to go; so they climbed back over the fence and they turned down the road that led to Mr. Cross’s home. “Mr. Cross was sitting on the back piazza and when he saw the ten little girls coming round the corner of the house a big smile spread over his face. “‘Well, well, well!’ he said. ‘Have you all come to call on me? Let’s see--ten of you! Well, well, I’ll have to get some chairs, won’t I?’ “Mary Lamb, with a very scared face, said that they could not stay to sit down, and then she told about the sheep and how they had run away.