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Show f f ILOVE and MARRIED LIFE) I J iij. the noted author I I I I Idah MGlone Gibson j MY NURSE'S STORY. ! ; Tho nurse, hovering about, apparent- A. l- y saw the shade of disappointment It. ' pasn over my face and said: i "Pardon me, Mr, Gordon, but tbe I doctor has asked that calls be very V"' '(j Mrp. Gordon looking 'as bright and A- happy 3-s she has this morning." . J " : ' "Cut I'm not a visitor, nurse! I'm V 1 ber husband." A - "Every one is a visitor who comes ; o a hospital," was herr-uncompromls- V' 1 1 Ing reply, as she left the room. A "She may be all right as a nurse, Jf ' but great scottj I'd hate to be married V' ' to a woman llko that!" said John as he hasiily kissed me goodby. . JT t ' When she returned' I looked at her V ' : curiously. 4; "What are you thinking of, may I 1 K asW" she said with a smile. "I don't want to be inquisitive," I . A answered, "but I was Just thinking X . I ' how strange It is that you should have V : been here with me so long, giving me V such wonderful care; and that I should a ' not even know your name." .'" should be appended to what I might ji b designate as" a good deed," she answer- ; ed smiling. A "Perhaps," I replied, "but-1 always like to dall people by name, and es- -j pecially a person to whom I am in- ' debted for comfort, if not for happi- 'ia.-ht ness." T4 & ",f J'ou nut il as nicely as that," she ' ifa i said, still smiling, "I'll have to tell 'fyk that my name is Mary Fitzgerald, or .V perhaps, to be more definite, Mrs. Vi ' Fitzgerald." ': . Married Three Times. ,jy "Then you have been married?" I . asked, thinking of the words John had ytf. said of her as he left, "Yes, I've been married three .'V . times," is "What?" I shrieked-. .jF, 1 Even she chuckled at my consterna- 4g7 , i lion, but her eyes were somber as she ? '. said.' 1 : i "I was married at 1G to a man iwen- ly-five years older than myself. In fact, 1 was literally sold to him by my 2' ; father. At 20 I entered a large de- J ; ; partment store, and for five years I stood behind tho glove counter. One Jft , day I found myself looking into the : eyes of a very handsome man of about t'r ! my own age. Our admiration spemed to be mutual. He came back day after L day, ostensibly to buy gloves, but I mx knew he was willing to pay the price of a pair of gloves each day for the $j ; ' sake of a little visit with me. j j "Finally he asked me to luncheon Oh yes, it was the usual thing, except that in my case the only honorable thing that my 'second husband ever offered of-fered me was marriage. I was desperately desper-ately in love with him. You see ho was the first young man I had over known, and I was very proud when I left the store to become his wife. Weds Confidence Man. "A few months after marriage I found that I had wedded a notorious confidence man and that he expected me to help him play his nefarious business. busi-ness. Do you know, Mrs. Gordon, I loved him so, that I even tried to help him. My part of tho matter was to luro the victims to the places where they might meet my husband, who posed only as a friend, and he would sell them whatever fraudulent stocks or bonds ho was pushing at the time. "I did this for a year, because I loved him.- But "then came a very wealthy man who asked that I should be a part of the sale, and I found that i my husband was perfectly willing to J make me the pawn- "I tin not thtntr thr fVinnr-hf nf riv. ing myself to the other man made mo shrink In such horror as did the conviction con-viction that my husband would bo willing to sell me, body and soul. Then and there I decided that the only thing men loved on this earth was money, and I determined that no other man should be able' to make me suffer. suf-fer. "I carefully tnade my plans to disap-l pear but as I was about to do so. 1 1 found that my husband's would-be victim vic-tim had turned into a relentless prosecutor. pros-ecutor. He had learned of my husband's hus-band's dishonesty, and had him arrested arrest-ed and sent to prison. Cold, Calculating Woman. "Because I did not stand by my husband hus-band I was considered a very cold, calculating cal-culating woman. In fact there was a story in one of the papers to that effect. ef-fect. Tho world did not know my sldo I never told it. "Just beforo the war broke out, I determined to study nursing, and was one of those who was sent 'Over There.' Among my mangled patients was an Englishman, who had been blinded, and infected with tuberculosis. tuberculo-sis. I think I loved him because he was so helpless so dependent upon me. '"Atilhe time of the armistice I married mar-ried him. He died soon after. That's my' story! . You see we all have our heart aches." ' (To Be Continued.) |