Can you elaborate on the 4th degree of the ancient and accepted Scottish rite?

The Fourth Degree of the Ancient and Accepted Scottish Rite is designated Secret Master, marking the beginning of the Sublime Degrees, which span from the Fourth to the Fourteenth Degree inclusive 1. These degrees were historically worked under a body styled a Sublime Grand Lodge, an organization now termed a Lodge of Perfection 1. Candidates entering the Scottish Rite in jurisdictions such as the Southern Jurisdiction of the United States begin at this degree, requiring prior membership in a symbolic Craft lodge, as an article on the Supreme Council, 33°, Southern Jurisdiction website notes.

The degree centers morally on the primary themes of duty and labor, as an article on the Supreme Council, 33°, Southern Jurisdiction website explains. Symbolically, the primary emblem associated with the Secret Master degree is an ivory key, which features the Hebrew letter zain (or Z) upon its wards 1. In the degree's symbolism, the candidate receives this ivory key as an emblem of the degree, as the Supreme Council, 33°, Southern Jurisdiction website describes.

Following the death of the Master-Builder, King Solomon is depicted meditating sorrowfully on the loss of his architect 1. During this time of mourning, King Hiram of Tyre arrives to confer with Solomon regarding an unfulfilled pledge concerning ceded territory, which the Tyrian monarch had inspected and found to be an unwelcoming desert 1.

Fearing a potential threat to Solomon, a royal favorite named Manon follows Hiram of Tyre and eavesdrops outside the chamber door 1. Upon being discovered and seized by the King of Tyre, the intruder's execution is demanded 1. Solomon intervenes to persuade his guest of the favorite's selfless devotion, thereby saving his life and renewing the alliance between the two kings 1. Following this reconciliation, the favorite is received and appointed to occupy the exalted position left vacant by the untimely death of Hiram 1.

Arthur Edward Waite treats this traditional history as an eighteenth-century side-grade legend—described under the ritual title of English Master—representing one of several legendary extensions framed around the vacancy left by the Master-Builder 1.