Evening star., 1934-08-22
CHAPTER X.

AOW 70 on Win tne btOIys
CHAPTER X.
m K AIDA went on duty that night
MI with O mind distracted by
fv worry. Losing her cap would
A.. Il be the worst disgrace that
could occur to her, except
expulsion and she could not help
feeling that it was unjust OF Miss
Burns to punish her so severely be-
cause she had refused to be stool
pigeon. The way she fell for the
practical joke had showed her up
for q greenhorn, and to make 1t worse,
she had committed the unpardonable
sin, In q nurses eye, of fainting In
an emergency; now 1t looked as If the
perpetrators of the joke were to go
scot free and she were to lose her
cap. II Retta had been q friendly
sort she would not have minded SO
much, but feeling sure, rs she did,
that the girl had been trying to make
trouble for her, Mazda objected stren-
ucusly to the part Of scapegoat.
Thirty-two, who had made all the
trouble by his curiosity, called her
IN a half dozen times on trumped-
I'D excuses to pump her. He was a
thyroid case waiting for operation
and all news of an exciting nature
was to be kept from him, but Mazda
grew 30 tired of trying to convince
those pop eyes that nothing had been
wrong the night before that she
version Of what had really happened.
Johnnie came In about !.
"I was called out Of bed to order
o hypo," he yawned, $50 I thought
I'd stop by and see If you were having
any more emergencies"
'"The less said about last night, the
better" Mazda told him tartly. THE
thyroid in 80 got wind OF 1t and kept
asking questions this morning. They
suspected something and called me to
the ONCE"
"Geel Did they bawl you out?"
"I'll probably lose my cap"
"Go onl What for?"
"It seems the r. Q, o. suspects me
OF having some kind Of o wild party.
Thirty-two heard mans voice and
0 scream. Miss Burns won't believe
] was the victim of aspractical joke
uA4EcS d d4NQA8C tAAC 4A0AAlCo Va UA1C
perpetrators, 80 ! politely told her
to 60 to the devil. and now am In
for It,"
"That's q darned shame. Did you
ten Cookie? She Is good sport;
she'll 10 to the ONCE and clear you"
"And lose her own cap when she
Is so.near graduation? Don't be silly.
Why should she care what happens
to me? Besides, don't want to get
ycu Ia bad and your part would have
to come out"
Don't worry about me. Tn not
under the T. o. o. They can't do a
thing to me. I'm going to talk to
Cookie, and If she won't tell, will"
"Oh, Johnnie, II IL wouldn't hurt
your prospects, I'd be relieved. ]
can't help 1t. don't see why Ishould
be the one to suffer when 1t wasn't
my fault"
Next afternoon when Mazda got up
che corridor was buzzing with the
news that Cookie had lost her cap.
els she sore at you'll" they told her.
"She says 1t Is all your fault for
being q baby and making such o fuss
that the patients caught on. She says
you will pay for 1t, too. Oh, boy, I'd
hate to have that woman down on
me. She doesn't csre what she does" .,
Mazda had been sorry for Cookie,
but this report reused her indigna-
ton.
''It certainly wasn't my fault. II
she plays stupid Jokes like that she
ought to know she runs the risk OF
being found out. ! think she has her
nerve to blame me. I nearly lost
my own cap because wouldn't tell
On her"
There's q colored gentleman In the
woodpile," said Bert shrewdly in the
privacy Of their own cubbyhole, "and
can make Q pretty good guess who it
Is: DR.. Casey"
Mazda had o month on night duty.
Sitting alone, In the glow of the little
desk light, she had ample opportunity
for reflection, and as she thought
about herself and Stanley and her
mother, more and more 1t was borne
In upon her during those long vigils
that o breach had opened which no
amount Of family affection could ever
fully bridge. They were different from
her and now that they were no longer
held together by life under the same
roof. every day seemed to make them
more different. Her hope that her
own hard work would shame Stanley
into being something more than o
social parasite had been abandoned.
Stanley and her mother were quite
happy. now that her presence no
longer. reproached them for extrava-
gance and triviality, and they were
likely to continue so until the money
was exhausted.
She did not know how likely STAN
ley was to succeed In his plan to
marry money. but she had q shrewd
notion that the rich girls who were
delighted to get an extra man to play
around with, turned, nevertheless, to
their own kind when they wished to
marry. Unless, that is, the man was
some kind Of q rascal who got . hold
over them, and Stanley, while he
might be unscrupulous In small
things, was not bold enough, was too
dependent upon the approval Of those
about him, to be ruthless.
She only hoped the money would
hold out until she could begin to
earn. Then she could take a little
apartment for her mother and her
self, and they would get along some
way.
If night brought pessimistic thoughts,
Mazda had some share of the family
optimism in the daytime, and when
she walked through the park each
afternoon she wondered ut the de-
preston that filled her mind at night.
When her month was over she was
thin and nervous, but very glad to
get back to nermal hours and the
physical labor Of mems surgical, in
spite Of the fact that Retta Cook was
the junior on the floor. Her cap had
been restored and she was again In
favor with the T. s. o. She spoke