The Hays free press. [volume] (Hays, Kan.) 1908-1924, 1918-08-01
CHAPTER XII.
A Woman win a MIasinn-

WIChlH lew nOuFS a1ter O'Re1Ily'S
return to New York he telephoned to
Felipe Alvarado, 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"
well, I'm going back. Won't you in
tercede for me with the junta? They're
| constantly sending parties"
"Um-m! not quite so often as that"
AlvaradO was silent for a moment
then he said: "Dine with me tonight
and We'll talk it over. I'm eager for
| news of my brothers and-there is
some one 1 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
1 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, ysu know, goes
the same way as my extra trou-
sers. 1t will be a sort of patriotic
poverty party Come at seven.
please"
That evening O'ReiIly 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 I
told you that she has contributed lib
orally. She might help you"
O'Reilly 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, 1t
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
/
with neglect of his duties to the suf-
ferfng. 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 cats.
a ringing laugh from the cramped
hallway interrupted these reflections /;
then a moment later Doctor AIvarado
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
a 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 a girl-had brought into
the room an electric vitality, a breezi-
ness hard to describe. Altogether she
was such a 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 awkwar6ness.
AIvarado placed an affectionate
hand upon Miss Evans shoulder.
"O'Reilly. this girl has done more for
Cuba than any OF US. She has spent
a small fortune for medical supplies, -
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.
n 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 cali her beautiful, she was some
thing fraE1ansaas foffar.-rF,e 49, .,Ff,.-,