The broad ax., 1910-12-31

Its nothing. but perhaps you'd bet
ter get a DOCTOR gasped Miss Mouse.
My heads so queer. and. oh. I'm 50
warm
Soon after a SCI e faced nurse In a
striped uniform and white apron was
Installed In the room. and TO her Little
Miss Mouse. down with brain fever.
talked an uDending jargon.
''If you can have a castle In Spain
you can certainly have a knight in
Spain. can't your" she demanded over
and over again.
"Of course you can" sOothed the
nurse.
I'D be very lonely II he vanished.
as castles In Spain do" she said at
another time. with wistful, puzzled
eyes. You don't think he will van
fish. do you? Because I'm all alone
here. He's the only person ] really
know.
Don't you ever tell. upon your hon
or" she rambled on. It's very
strange. / don't just understand II,
but actually I have never seen him.
Can you believe It. I've never seen
him. and yet I know him so well?
don't understand It. and my head Is
splitting. Hold Ii. Hold itr'
The man I'm the next room was very
quiet these days. From Maggie he
had learned Of the little artists III
ness. and from her also he heard OF
the strange halluclnatiOn atNnt the
man IN Spain. When she told him he
shot a quick, piercing look from his
deep set eyes. but evidently there was
no connection in her mind between the
sick girls fancy and himself
Instinctively he knew the truth
Poor little girl" he unused. lonely,
struggling, with nothing to feed her
love Of cOmpanionship and romance
upon but the sense Of fellowship with
the unseen occupant Of the next room!
1t is well that she hasn't seen this ugly
mug of mine" ne concluded grimly.
So he fell into the way Of stopping
to inquire about her Of the nurse each
morning and then Of sending great
punches Of violets. upon which the sick
girls half conscious eyes rested later
on with dreamy pleasure.
"Who picked them?' were her first
intelligent words when the fever left
her and she became herself. Then,
realizing where she was and what had
happened, she laughed weakly and cor
rected herself. who sent them. !
mean?"
At the reply faint color crept into
her cheeks. and she murmured some
thing the nurse did not catch.
Then came the days when she sat
up, feeling like new creature come
to a new world. though in appearance
she was more than ever like a frail
child.
Come in; think she would like to
thank you" said the nurse when one
day the man stopped TO make his usu-
al inquiry. and moment later he was
standing before Little Miss Mouse. his
heart humping at the gaze Of two
dark fringed eyes that reminded him
of violets.
She Stammered out her thanks.
scarcely knowing what she said, so
great was her establishment. for, In
fact. the knight in Spain. whose face
she thought she knew as well as her
own. was dark and most uncompro-
misingly ugly. Besides, he was old
forty II he was a day-and-and-
In another moment her surprise was
forgotten. A big. strong hand was
holding hers. and the voice that she
liked so much was speaking. There
was a vibrant tenderness I'm II that she
had never noticed before-that seemed
personal. that suggested. Outlandish as
the idea was. that to her Of all the wO-
men in the world would he ever speak
in just that tone
II was OIL their honeymoon that.
longing to hear over and over again
the beautiful truth. he questioned:
You're sure you don't regret marry
ing an ugly brute like me?"
She laughed softly. laying her cheek
against his. but she did not speak.
With quick pain he pulled the face
down where he could look into the
depths Of those dark fringed eyes. his
lips touched her hair. and he muir
INJURED brokenly. "Oh. Little Miss
Mouser'