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The Red Cross Girl by Richard Harding Davis
page 92 of 273 (33%)
high hat and white gloves and three professors in gowns and
colored hoods, and the Stillwater silver Cornet Band playing
what, after several repetitions, the ambassador was
graciously pleased to recognize as his national anthem.

The ambassador forgot that he was hot and cross. He forgot
that he was dusty. His face radiated satisfaction and
perspiration. Here at last were people who appreciated him
and his high office. And as the mayor helped him into the
automobile, and those students who lived in Stillwater
welcomed him with strange yells, and the moving-picture
machine aimed at him point blank, he beamed with
condescension. But inwardly he was ill at ease.

inwardly he was chastising himself for having, through his
ignorance of America, failed to appreciate the importance of
the man he had come to honor. When he remembered he had never
even heard of Doctor Gilman he blushed with confusion. And
when he recollected that he had been almost on the point of
refusing to come to Stillwater, that he had considered
leaving the presentation to his secretary, he shuddered. What
might not the Sultan have done to him! What a narrow escape!

Attracted by the band, by the sight of their fellow townsmen
in khaki, by the sight of the stout gentleman in the red fez,
by a tremendous liking and respect for Doctor Gilman, the
entire town of Stillwater gathered outside his cottage. And
inside, the old professor, trembling and bewildered and yet
strangely happy, bowed his shoulders while the ambassador
slipped over them the broad green scarf and upon his only
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