Spirit of the age. [volume] (Woodstock, Vt.) 1845-1913, 1911-01-14
A KNIGHT
in SPAIN
---
The Sequel to the Dream of
Little Miss Mouse.
BY KEITH GORDON.

and the girl often heard him whistling
or singing in the next room. His rep
ertory was extensive and confusing.
"She's the bestest girl that is. and
need her in my biz" would float In to
her, followed perhaps by the strains OF
Samson ct Dalila" or some music
equally fine.
One knew the sort of man who
would sing coon songs with gusto;
also the sort that would hum bits
from the grand operas. The puzzling
thing was to know what sort of man
would take an impartial delight in
both. So In the intervals of her work
she began to speculate about her I'M
known nelghbor.
AT the end of two months she tabu-
lated her knowledge of him. He was
gay and debonair. Witness the scraps
Of song that fioated in to her. He was
carelessly Indifferent to women. This
she CLEANED from the fact that FIVE
days out of seven she could hear him
tunefully asserting:
II she be not fair to me,
What care how fair she bel
He smoked inveterately-a pipe. she
fancied. Sometimes the faint, elusive
spirit of the thing seemed to float
about her hall bedroom, and she
shifted again and again, her small
head well in the air, but could never
be quite sure. The partition bore her
startled scrutiny imperturbably, but
well, she was sure she smelled smoke.
He was about thirty. This she d.
vined from the freshness of his voice
and his boyish delight in the chatter
of the elderly chambermaid, whose
Irish wit would send him into peals
of laughter
Also he was man of the world,
since she heard him come In early
many evenings and move about his
room as If dressing for dinner. Then
at half past or he would go out
again, leaving her with an absurd
sense of desolation.
They never encountered each other
In the halls, much to her satisfaction,
but she came to have very distinct
idea of his appearance. He was tall,
broad and straight, with a clear cut
face and an air of knowing his way
about
"Sure, an he's a foine gintleman,"
she might have verified her idea of
him, she refrained with fine sense of
personal reserve. Sometimes through
the open door she caught a glimpse of
his room, and her interested eyes took
in the dark green walls, covered with
handsome photographs, the low book
cases ON either side of the fireplace
and the low, broad table with its litter
of books and papers.
"It certainly looks as If he were an
interesting man." she thought to her.
self, and thereupon she entered her
own room, and, taking out a sheet of
paper bearing the mystical heading
my Knight In Spain," she wrote:
Evidently educated-a college man; |
profession, law, literature or some |
thing of the kind"
maggie, is there any one In the next |
room 2" she heard him inquire one Sun |
day morning. Then in answer to Mag
gie's muffied reply. Little Miss Mouse,
should call her. didn't know there
was any one there, though once or
twice I've thought heard some one"
The girl blushed guiltily. Apparent
ly he had no idea how plainly she
could hear him. Then she smiled to
herself. So he would call her Little
Miss Mouse. Well, 1t was fair enough,
since she called him her gentleman of
Spain.
For awhile after this she noticed
decided effort on her neighbor's part to
go softly. In the midst of a stave he
would cease abruptly, only to begin
afresh and stop again with an impa-
tient exclamation, as If he were an
noyed at not being able to remember
to be quiet At all of which, in the Sc
clusion of her room, Little Miss Mouse
laughed immoderately. though in ST.
lence.
Then one morning Maggie found her
IN bed, her usually pale face flushed,
4 tossed and tangled mass.
Its nothing but perhaps you'd bet
.er get a doctorw gasped Miss Mouse.
My heads so queer, and, oh, I'm so
warml"
Soon after a serene faced nurse In
striped uniform and white apron was
installed in the room, and to her Little
Mss Mouse down with brain fever.
alked an uDending jargon.
IF you can have castle In Spain
'ou can certainly have a knight In
spain, can't Your she demanded over
md over again.
"Of course you can," soothed the
lurse.
I'D be very lonely If he vanished, {
- castles In Spain do" she said at {
mother time, with wistful, puzzled b
yes. You don't think he will van 1
sh, do you? Because I'm all alone I
ere. He's the only person really n
now b
Don't you ever tell, upon your hon. 0
r." she rambled on. ITS very b
TRANCE. don't just understand It, Ii
ut actually I have never seen himi a
AN you believe 1t, I've never seen q
i'm, and yet I know him so well7 1 "
ont understand 1t. and my head is a
plitting. Hold IT,! Hold itr "
The man in the next room was very b
uiet these days. From Maggie he q
ad learned of the little artists III b
ess, and from her also he heard Of a
,e strange hallucination about the o.