“No, my lord,” answered Pronoun. “As Mr. Noun has nothing to say to them, neither have I. They do not stand instead of any name.”
“Well,” said the Judge, “we know they do not belong to that tiresome little Interjection. Are they yours, Adverb?”
“I should be extremely glad to have them, my lord,” answered Adverb, smoothly washing his hands, as usual. “I have no doubt I could make them exceedingly useful——”
“That is not what I asked,” said the Judge; “are they yours?”
“I cannot say they are exactly mine,” said Adverb; “but——”
“That is all we want to know,” interrupted the Judge. Then raising his voice, he continued: “If there is any one in this court to whom these words, ‘to, from, of, for,’ etc., do belong, let him come forward.”
At these words, a sharp, dapper little fellow stepped forward, and looking around the court with a triumphant air, exclaimed, “They belong to me.”
“And who are you?”
“Preposition, my lord. My position is just before a noun or pronoun. My words point out to them their proper position. I keep them in order.”
“You keep them in order?” said Judge Grammar, looking down at him through his spectacles; “how can a little mite like you keep Mr. Noun in order?”