“Oh, no,” said Mary Louise, with a happy little flush, “but I’m glad you thought of me, Danny.”
“Of course, I did,” said Danny, and then added rather shyly as he held out a little package, “Mary Louise, I know that to-day is your birthday, and I want so much to give you what I cherish most. May I?” And Mary Louise said he might. Mary Louise opened the package and found the most wonderful birthday present any girl could have,—the Distinguished Service Medal of her hero.
CHAPTER XVIII
THE MOTOR TRIP
Mary Louise flung back the wide hall door and danced into the room, tossing her hat on a nearby chair. She had had such a happy birthday, and she so loved Happiness! The tingling of the telephone in the study caused her to turn into the room and pick up the desk telephone.
“Hello,” she said, her joyousness still singing through her tones. Then in breathless amazement, “Why, Josie O’Gorman, didn’t you take the train?”
“No,” answered Josie, “just as I was boarding the train a dispatch came saying that O’Hara had been spotted on the westbound Santa Fe Limited. Crocker had wired the authorities to get him at Albuquerque.”
“Oh,” stammered Mary Louise, feeling quite lost and dizzy at the thought of this misfortune to the man who had raised Danny and cared for him. “Isn’t there any hope—I mean danger, of his escaping?”
“Not a bit,” came Josie’s voice. “We’re playing in the very best of luck. Probably right now they are arresting him.”
Mary Louise choked back a great sob that rose persistently in her throat. “It’ll be just fine to have you come back, Josie,” she said, remembering her loving hospitality even in her distress. “I’ll send the car for you,” she added, as she hung up the receiver.