Wausau pilot. [volume] (Wausau, Wis.) 1896-1940, 1918-06-11

ehpe AI'drduO, explaining briefly the
disastrous failure of his Cuban trip.
Il feared as much" the doctor told
him. "You were lucky to escape with
your life"
swell, I'm going back. Won't you in.
tercede for me with the junta2 They're
constantly sending parties"
"Um-ml not quite so often as that
Alvarado was silent for a moment
then he said: "Dine with me tonight
and Wen talk it over I'm eager fol-
news of my brothers and-there is
some one I wish you to meet. She is
interested in our cause"
"'She'? A woman?"
"Yes, and an unusual woman. She
has contributed literally to our cause
I would like you to meet her."
'Very well; but I've only one suit OF
clothes, and it looks as if I'd slept In
it."
"Oh, bother the clothes!' laughed
the physician. "Pve given most of my
own to my destitute countrymen
Don't expect too much to eat, either
every extra dollar, you know, goes
the same way as my extra trou.
sers. 1t will be a sort of patriotic
poverty rarty.' Come at seven
| please"
That evening O'Reilly anticipated
his dinner engagement by a few mo.
ments in order to have a word alone
with Alvarado.
'"This lady who is coming here to.
night has influence with Enriquez." AL
varadO told him. "You remember ]
told you that she has contributed lib.
orally. She might help you"
O'ReiIly had met women with ideals
with purposes, with avocations, and
| his opinion of them was low. Women
who had missions" were always tire.
some, he had discovered. This one, il
appeared, was unusual only in that she
had adopted a particularly exacting
form of charitable work. Nursing
even as a rich woman's diversion
must be anything but agreeable
O'Reilly pictured this Evans person in
his mind-a large, plain, elderly crea.
ture, obsessed with impractical ideas
of uplifting the masses She would
undoubtedly bore him stiff with stories
of her work; she would reproach him
with neglect of his duties to the suf-
fering. Johnnie was too poor to be
charitable and too deeply engrossed
at the moment with his own troubles
to care anything whatever about the
| masses" And she was a ''miss.'
That meant that she wore thick glasses
and probably kept eats.
A ringing laugh from the cramped
hallway interrupted these reflections
then a moment later Doctor AlvaradC
was introducing O'Reilly to a young
woman so completely out of the pic
ture, so utterly the opposite of his
preconceived notions, that he was mo.
mentarily at a loss. Johnnie found
| himself looking into pair of frank
gray eyes, and felt his hand seized by
firm, almost masculine grasp. Miss
Evans, according to his first dazzling
| impression, was about the most fetch
ing creature he had ever seen and
about the last person by whom any
young man could be bored. The girl
and she was girl-had brought into
! the room an electric vitality, q breezi-
ness hard to describe. Altogether she
was such vision of healthy, unaffect.
ed and smartly gOtten-up young wom-
anhood that O'Reilly could only STAN
mer his acknowledgment of the intro
duction, inwardly berating himself for
his awkwardness.
Alvarado placed an affectionate
hand upon Miss Evans shoulder
"O'Reilly, this girl has done more for
Cuba than any of us. She has spent
small fortune for medical supplies, y
said he
Those poor men must live on qui-
nine" the girl exclaimed. Anyone
who can bear to take the stuff ought
to have all he wants. I've a perfect
passion for giving pills"
O'Reilly liked this girl. He had liked
her the instant she favored him with
her friendly smile, and so, trusting
fatuouSly to his masculine powers of
observation, he tried to analyze her.
he could not guess her age, for an ex-
penSive ladies' tailor can battle the
most discriminating eye. Certainly,
however, she was not Old--he had an
idea that she would tell him her exact
age if he asked her. While he could
not call her beautiful, she was some
thing immensely better-She was alive.
human, interesting. and interested.
The fact that she did not take her
mission" Over-Seriously proved that
she was also sensible beyond most
women. Yes, that was it. Miss No
rine Evans was a perfectly sensible,
unspoiled young person, who showed
the admirable effects of clean living
and clean thinking coupled with a nor
NAL, sturdy constitution. 0'Reilly told
himself that here was a girl who could
pour tea, nurse sick man. or throw
baseball.
And she was as good as her promise.
She did not interrupt when, during
dinner, Alvarado led Johnnie TO talk
about his latest experience in Cuba,
but, on the contrary. her unflagging in
terest induced O'Reilly TO address his
talk more often &c. her than to the doc
tor. He soon discovered that she I'M
derstood the Cuban situation as well
as or better than he, and that her SYM
pathies were keen. She was genuinely
moved by the gallant struggle of the
Cuban people, and when the dinner
ho Tod