Evening capital and Maryland gazette. (Annapolis, Md.) 1910-1922, 1919-10-28
CHAPTER XII.
A Woman with a Mission.


II 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 junta? They're
constantly sending parties"
"Um-mi not quite so often as that"
Alvarndo was silent for moment ;
then he said: "Dine with me tonight
and we'll talk 1t over. I'm eager for
news of my brothers and-there is
some one 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.
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."
ooh, bother the clothesw laughed
the physician. 1--WE 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 party Come at seven,
please"
That evening O'Reilly anticipated
his dinner engagement by few mo-
ments In order to have a word alone
with Alvarado.
"Ths 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'Reilly had met women with ideals,
with purposes, with avocations. and
bis opinion of them was low. Women
Z who had Emissions" were always tire
some, he had discovered. This one, 1t
appeared, was unusual only In that she
had adopted particularly exacting
form of charitable work. Nursing,
even as a rich wOman's diversion,
must be anything but agreeable.
0'Reilly pictured this Evans person in
his mind-a large. plain. elderly crea-
ture, obsessed with impractical ideas
of uplifting the massesi She would
undoubtedly bore him stiff with stories
Of her work; she would reproach him
with neglect of his duties to the SUI.
fering. Johnnie was too poor to be
charitable and too deeply engrossed
ut the moment with his own troubles
to care anything whatever about the
masses" And she, was '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 Alvarado
was introducing O'Reiiy to young
woman so completely out of the pic
ture, so utterly the opposite of his
preconcelved notions, that he was mo-
mentarily at loss. Johnnie found
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 a girl-had brought into
llC sAOOtl XII Ctt(lIlC NAtuHlts DkCNEk-
ness hard to describe. Altogether she
was such Il vision of healthy, unaffect.
ed and smartly gotten-up young WON
anhood that O'Relly 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.
lO'Reilly, this girl has done more for
Cuba than any of us. She has spent
q small fortune for medical supplies"
said he.
'sThoSe 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 oid-ne had an
idea that she would tell him her exact
age IL 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
EMISSION" 0yer-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 nor
NAL, sturdy constitution. O'Reilly told
himself that here was girl who could
pour tea. nurse a sick man, or throw
a baseball.
a n