"Oh, but I like it like this," Paul exclaimed eagerly. "Have you a housekeeper and a niece by any chance? Do they tidy for you?"
"Why a housekeeper and a niece?" asked the man.
"He had, you know—Don Quixote. I've been playing at him a good deal lately."
"Do you generally play at the people you read about?"
"Always," Paul said solemnly. "What would be the good of reading about them else?"
"I suppose it's a good plan," the man said musingly; "it must lead you into many adventures."
"It does," Paul said solemnly. "This is one of them, and you, I suppose, are a sort of magician, since you make plays. Do people really act them?"
"Not as often as I could wish," the man said, "... but it's great fun all the same."
"Do you play at being the people?"
The man shook his head. "I'm afraid not," he said sadly. Then more to himself than to Paul—"That's the hardest thing of all to do; to look on is much easier."