Just how much right do people have to take control of the fates of others, and when they do, who determines whether they are acting for the common good or against society's best interests? Murphy raises this issue in his morality tale of two girls, one a follower, the other a leader. Jessica Elizabeth Wyman has been hired to watch Mrs. Hayword's house and cats while Mrs. Hayword is out. She takes the opportunity to have Kirsten Richards visit, in the hope that Kirsten will like her enough to be her friend: "There was something about her [Kirsten's] personality, its power really, that made Jessica feel important." In this aspect of the relationship between the two girls, the story relies heavily on irony—that is, the audience is expected to know more about what is going on than the characters do. Although Jessica...