Reporter and farmer. [volume] (Webster, Day County, Dakota [S.D.]) 188?-1946, 1907-09-19

frocks. so he he'd no knightly posei...
tiles. To be sure. there was the 10,
who ran the elevator after 6 p. n. -
always held the car when he saw Me
linda coming on those nights on which
she worked overtime But he wa
scarcely over FIVE feet three. hi
cheeks were a bucolical pink in hue
and his nose was freckled. Besides, b,
was paid to hold elevators and b,
obliging TO tenants who worked over
time, and mere knighthood on salary
was not worth mentioning.
] Once or twice he had brought he,
some garden flowers, the old fashioned
kind. mignonette, heliotrope, phlox and
ragged robins, that his mother raised
In the garden of their suburban home
Melinda found them on her desk. In a
milk bottle without a card. A real
! knight, of course, would have card
or leave a glove or something of the
sort
Her search for q knight was tagging,
partly because of the heat and partly
because the hot. overworked men
around her looked anything but knight
~ In midsummer, when the assistant
matron. remembering the theater tick
cts, asked Melinda to make trip
down the bay and back one merciless-
ly hot night. Melinda assented Ian
guidly, and the assistant matron felt
her heart stirred by strange pity for
this tired little up state girl. who
sometimes, amid all the artificiality
and sordidness OF her city life, man
aged to hold on to her old ideals. She
was so different from the other in
mates of the Cuba bit silly about
novels and music and flowers, but still
so shy and sweet.
1t was a great night on the bay,
moonlit and sparkling, after day OF
relentless heat and humidity, and not
a night for disaster at all. But one
overlook them-a fiery sheet Of flame
beside which the suns rays of the day
just closed were merciful. Melinda
heard just one long. hoarse cry, saw
one great fash of light, felt an arm
jerk her to her feet, and then every
thing was blank. This may have been
because the day had been so long and
hard or because the girl had never In
all her reading days thought of what
one ought to do when fire broke out on
crowded boat.
Something cool and lovely was trio
king on her forehead, her eyes, her
cheeks, her lips. She was floating on
a cloud. No, she was lying on wet
sand. and the assistant matron was
murmuring:
mo, no, she's not hurt. 1t was Just
the shock. She viii be all right In a
minute. But you, you wonderful,
wonderful boy. to save us both"
Oh, yes, the fire. the trampling feet,
the brief glimpse into the great beyond
--she remembered 1t all now. And
some one had saved them. There was
a real knight In New York after all.
She wanted to open her eyes and see
him, but the lids were so heavy, so
heavy. But she knew he was straight
and tall and dark and pale and slen-
der. All knights must be. And then
the other voice said brokenly:
"You know i never had a chance to
tell her loved her. She was so back
ward and shy and always seemed to
be looking right past me. She amt
Ike other girls / know-and you're
sure she'll come around all right"
Something In the voice made Melin-
da's eyelids turn light again. They
popped open. and she looked straight
into the anxious eyes of the elevator
boy.
"Oh, then It wasn't knight after
ALL" she murmured as the assistant
matron began to chafe her hands once
more.
Melinda was sitting on the edge of
the bed In the assistant matron's room.
Il suppose they don't have to be tall
and slender and pale and interesting II
their hearts are all right and knightly.
And Billy's heart is all right. He don't
have to run an elevator. you know.
His mother has q,iite little money,
but he's going to be an electrical en-
gineer OF superintendent Of big build
ings or something Of that sort, ana be
says he wants to know everything
from running elevators to running men,
and then be can support me and mann
ma too. But when his mother came In
70 PEE me today she patted my hand
and kissed me on both cheeks and said
there was no reason why Billy and /
should have 70 venlf that long f>acauco