El Paso daily herald. (El Paso, Tex.) 1881-1901, 1900-01-02
THE LATE MR.. KNAPP
y ~ ~
Il STORY WHICH GOES TO SHOW
THAT you CAN'T ALWAYS
TELL WHAT PEOPLE
MEAN By WHAT THEY SAY.

+ MEAN By WHAT THEY SAY :
2oxoxo%oxoxoxo j
You see, she was such a queer little
thing that we couldn't help taking her
to our hearts at once. But there, that's
Just the way with me. 1t always seems
to me as if everybody ought to know
the people know, without any partic-
ular explanation.
Well, it was just this way: That
summer that mother and 1 wanted to
paper the sitting room, though father
would have given mother his head II
she had asked for 1t, heads didn't
count. 1t was money we needed, and
of that he had none. Then after much
hard thinking l devised plan, and,
though it was a great shock to rather
and mother at first, 1 carried the day,
and the upshot of it was that we ad-
yertised for a summer boarder for our
spare room. Unless you have done the
same thing at some awful crisis in
your life you can never for moment
imagine o reader, the awful mixture
of hope and fear that held place in our
hearts until we received a neatly writ
ten, briefly worded note signed
"Phoebe Knapp"
Mother was taken with it at once,
and as she delights in all things miser-
able because she can make them feel
better. she was especially captfVated
by the closing sentence, which ran,
"Having recently met with bereave-
ment. the rest and quiet you offer will
be great boon to me-"
widow, likely" said father as we
read this note aloud in his presence for
the fifth time.
Miss or Mrs, Katie?" asked mother,
although we both knew the signature
by heart-"Yours sincerely, Phoebe
Knapp
Pm sure don't know. 1 can't read
between the lines" 1 answered, rather
fippantly, 1 fear.
This unknown was beginning to take
a sort of weird possession of me. 1t
seemed uncanny that everything
should turn upon the movements of a
stranger whom we had never seen, and
wherever 1 turned l could not help see
ing a silent figure in a long Grape veil
lifting its hand and commanding me to
do this or that, upon which 1 was al
ready engaged.
However we were all ready for her
at last, and when father came from
the station and deposited upon the
front piazza a tiny little woman of
about so years Of age, with big, fright
ened gray eyes, and delicate, sensitive
features, a creature that would have
looked small alongside a robust child
of 10, the contrast between this little
object and The commanding figure of
m ir1o DIN
almost had a fit Of Mysteries on the
spot. 1 took refuge in flight, while
mother cooed and coddled the poor
dear" and took her up to her room.
You see, mother was just in her ele-
readjust to existing circumstances.
My flights of fancy will be the death
of me some day, father says.
l caught mother ON the stair a mo-
ment as they were coming down and
breathed softly into her ear, Miss or
Mrs."
81 don't know. 1 couldn't find out"
answered mother in that awful stage
whisper of hers that sends me nearly
Into fits whenever she tries it. But our
boarder did not seem to notice. L made
a venture ON a bold stroke. 81 shall
call her Mrs. Knapp, and then she can
correct me If she doesn't like it. I've
always heard that il gives a middle
aged married woman much greater
offense to be called Miss than it does
to address a single sister as Mrs. SO
here goes"
81 hope you had a pleasant trip down,
Nm" L said pleasantly, allowing my
voice to die away on the last syllables
as L found my courage ooZing out at
the tip of my tongue. l couldn't say
Mrs. Knapp after all. to save me.
l noticed with much amusement that
father and mother avoided the pitfall
as successfully as 1 did, during that
first meal, and we all went out on the
piazza after supper to enjoy the sunset.
Here our guest set our minds at rest
How James would have enjoyed
thisr' exclaimed she softly, as if half
to herself Mother nodded so vigorous
ly and triumphantly behind her back
that l was afraid she would notice it
and SO fastened to nod in reply. We
knew now She was a widow. He
loved to sit beside me and watch the
setting sun, even in the city," she went
on softly. "It seems terribly lonely
without him. Oh, if l could only have
brought him out into such a peaceful
place AZ this, he might be alive now!
That last hot spell was SO hard on him.
I thought perhaps he had a sunstroke,
but l could not tell
Mothers eyes filed with sympathetic
tears, and as she laid her hand gently
over that Of Mrs. Knapp she inquired
tenderly, How long is it since he died,
dcar?'
six weeks answered the widow.
HE was all that 1 had in the world,
and 1 have been so lonely ever since