“No, there’s some one— Oh, we’re going to meet somebody, all right!”
“Then why don’t you tell me who he is? Honestly, Mart, you make me impatient.”
“Well, I’ll tell you. It isn’t a Him; it’s a Her.”
“Oh!”
“It’s— You know my work takes me to the hospitals, and some of the nurses at Zenith General have been awfully helpful.” He was panting. His eyes ached. Since the torture of the coming lunch was inevitable, he wondered why he should go on trying to resist his punishment. “Especially there’s one nurse there who’s a wonder. She’s learned so much about the care of the sick, and she puts me onto a lot of good stunts, and she seems like a nice girl— Miss Tozer, her name is— I think her first name is Lee or something like that—and she’s so—her father is one of the big men in North Dakota—awfully rich—big banker— I guess she just took up nursing to do her share in the world’s work.” He had achieved Madeline’s own tone of poetic uplift. “I thought you two might like to know each other. You remember you were saying how few girls there are in Mohalis that really appreciate—appreciate ideals.”
“Ye-es.” Madeline gazed at something far away and, whatever it was, she did not like it. “I shall be ver’ pleased to meet her, of course. Any friend of yours— Oh, Mart! I do hope you don’t flirt; I hope you don’t get too friendly with all these nurses. I don’t know anything about it, of course, but I keep hearing how some of these nurses are regular manhunters.”
“Well, let me tell you right now, Leora isn’t!”
“No, I’m sure, but— Oh, Martykins, you won’t be silly and let these nurses just amuse themselves with you? I mean, for your own sake. They have such an advantage. Poor Madeline, she wouldn’t be allowed to go hanging around men’s rooms learning—things, and you think you’re so psychological, Mart, but honestly, any smart woman can twist you around her finger.”
“Well, I guess I can take care of myself!”
“Oh, I mean— I don’t mean— But I do hope this Tozer person— I’m sure I shall like her, if you do, but— I am your own true love, aren’t I, always!”