The Goose Girl eBook  Harold MacGrath  The vintner had indeed
heard something.  He knew not what this noise was, but it was
enough to set his heels to flying.  A phase had developed in his
character that defied analysis; suspicion, suspicion of
daylight, of night, of shadows moving by walls, of footsteps
behind.  Only a little while ago he had walked free-hearted and
careless.  This growing habit of skulking was gall and
wormwood.  Once in his room, which was directly over the office
of the American consulate, he fell into a chair, inert and
breathless.  What a night!  What a series of adventures!  “Only
a month ago I was a boy.  I am a man now, for I know what it is
to suffer.  Gretchen, dear Gretchen, I am a black scoundrel! 
But if I break your heart I shall break my own along with it.  I
wonder how much longer it will last.  But for that vintner’s
notice I should have been lost.”  By and by he lighted a
candle.  The room held a cot, a table, and two chairs.  The
vintner’s wardrobe consisted of a small pac