Miss
Ainsworth. Not one in a thousand would have risen to such a sacrifice.
If American women were all like you, there would be no need of
Americanization. A country stands or falls by its women-kind. And you
will not find her burdensome. She does not wish to meet people, her only
desire is to be quiet, and let alone. She will keep your little home tidy
for you, and she likes to cook and sew. She will not bother you much. How
soon can you have her come?"

"It will take about two hours to get ready. Can you come and help me
to-night? Angelo will help, too. We must move the furniture and boxes
out, and then the room will be ready for her."

"Then suppose we go for her to-night? She is about forty miles out in the
back country in a little shack a mile off the Viejas grade. If we could
leave about supper-time, we'd get there a little after dark. She wants to
slip away without attracting attention. She is a nervous wreck, literally
scared to death. It will take a long time to give her confidence again,
but if any one can do it, it is you. Her faith in humankind has been
bitterly shattered."

Eveley was fairly quivering with excitement and delight. Her faith in
herself had gone leaping skyward. She was not a slacker, not a quitter.
She was a regular American after all, making a real sacrifice for a
principle she believed in,--and oh, how she was going to assimilate this
pretty little Mexican! Poor child! Of course she was shattered and
stunned and shocked. Who wouldn't be? Things must have been ghastly in
Mexico. Eveley herself was rather vague on the subject, because her
philosophy was one of peace and joy, and she found that reading of
affairs in Mexico did not tend to increase either peace or joy. But she
was dimly aware that the spirit of unrest prevailing in all the world had
risen to open and bloody warfare across the Rio Grande.

Her work suffered very sadly that afternoon, and long before the
appointed hour she was ringing furiously for the elevator. From her
incoherent chatter on the way down, Angelo gathered that he was literally
to fly to her the very minute he was off duty, and then she was
clambering blindly into the car and rushing around for Mr. Hiltze.

She was quite in an ecstasy as they set about moving out the pieces of
furniture to be stored in the back of the big garage, and fitting up an
attractive home for the wounded little Mexican who was to be her
guest,--and her food for assimilation.

Amos