"There seem to be a great many of them," said Miss Muffet, "but I've sometimes thought that there may be only two, only they live in different centuries and go to different wars. Boys can do that, can't they, Mr. Spider, if they are very brave?"
The spider said he thought they could without changing their characters, but of course they would have to change their names.
So an invitation was sent to Ronald Leslie, alias Wulf, Roger, Lionel, Stanley, etc., On The Firing Line, Near Carthage, Quebec, Crécy, Waterloo, Khartoum, or wherever the Enemy may be found in force. Forward by a swift messenger, trusty and true.
"I shouldn't wonder if they might be a little late, for they may be taken prisoner, and it always takes them some time to escape."
"Shall you invite any bad boys?" asked the spider.
"No," answered Miss Muffet severely, "not as a rule; but I think we shall ask Mr. Aldrich's Bad Boy, for he is a blighted being. I think it's our duty to have him,—and then it would be such fun. And I suppose we ought to invite Huckleberry Finn and Tom Sawyer to keep him company."
"Of course you will invite all the good boys?"
"Of course we shall invite them, as a rule. But the good boys in the books are almost too good sometimes; don't you think so, Mr. Spider? I mean almost too good to be true. But that reminds me; I suppose we should invite Rollo?"
"Yes," said the spider, "we certainly must invite Rollo; he's a worthy lad, and of an inquiring mind."