While he could not call her beautiful, she was something
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, Norine Evans was a perfectly sensible, unspoiled
young person, who showed the admirable effects of clean living and
clean thinking coupled with a normal, sturdy constitution.
O'Reilly told himself that here was a girl who could pour tea,
nurse a sick man, or throw a 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 interest
induced O'Reilly to address his talk more often to her than to the
doctor. He soon discovered that she understood the Cuban situation
as well as or better than he, and that her sympathies were keen.
When she did speak it was to ask intelligent questions, some of
which, by the way, it taxed O'Reilly's wits to answer
satisfactorily. Heretofore, Johnnie had looked upon the war
primarily as an unfortunate condition of affairs which had played
the mischief with his own personal fortunes; he had not allowed
himself to be very deeply affected by the rights or the wrongs of
either party. But Norine Evans took a much deeper and broader view
of the matter.
Pages:
185
186
187
188
189
190
191
192
193
194
195
196
197
198
199
200
201
202
203
204
205
206
207
208
209