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Show j BORROWED HUSBANDS 1 1 MILDRED K.y BARBOUR ( M ' f f DINNER H Dinner! that night was a strained Nancv dined nt the bu'.'l with the 1 Stanleys and Major Desninnd. after phoning th Iangwell residence and being Informed by Edith's maid that :j' tfra Langrrell would not be dining at HH home and that nn word had occn 10- HH calved from the doctor H UnrtrJUlqg to risk a possible tr.e- BH a-lete dinner with Langv l. Nancy re- mained with the Stanleys, but U did HLH po without enthusiasm. She was still w-" reseutful against Connie's attempted I 99991 . . horitv In ordering her to return to New York, ronnle herseif wa? oslcntntlou!ly dignified as a sign ot her displeasure toward Nancy. -Major Desmond also said little, and his eyes were fixed questioning!;.' un Nancy. The latter wondered what jH was really going on behind that Ini- EH pa-ssiv cerlor. W.-is he beginning to LV see the weak places in that very -rude B yarn which Connie had cold him H about the mvsterlous Gerry"? Rfl The thouKht sent a little tremor of B fear through her. as she realized that she was more hopelessly Involved than K9 ever by this latter ocurrencc. Rl Curtis Stanley, true to type, was Ejfl frankly sulking. It wns always his way when he became awkwardly ln- volved in the denouncement of one of H his practical jokes to seek safety in resentment. His first nc'. was usually Bfl nn att mp to foist the blame on soine- onsj le and ailing that he would B become merely a peevish small child hjI instead of apreclating the gravity of the situation which his own perverted nense . t humor had wrought I"- wore t l nn openly Injured air which waa de- signed to make the others of the party B3 feel like culprUs. Are you remaining in Chicago lonsr. Major0" Connie Inquired politely HEJ of the young officer 9 Her air of martyrdom lriltated N'sn-ey N'sn-ey beyond words. It said plainly ' My time and services which I offered gld-y gld-y and generously have been spurned'1 "That depends," replied Major Desmond, Des-mond, vaguely. Connie raised her brows, question-ingrly question-ingrly "I aaked Nancy :o go back with me toinu.-row, but she refused." Desmond glanced quickly at Nancy, who suddenly remembered the strange, request he had made at tea that day. Ho had as (rood an (old her that the Langwells' was no place for her and that it would be Wise if she left Chicago Chi-cago before anything unpleasant happened. hap-pened. In the shod; of hearing of Gerry's loss and subsequent restoration, she: had completely forgoV.en She looked i: him blankly and said: slowly: "How curious thai two different peoplo should command mc tov return home and neither of you my hosts! To be quite frank with you I fflBh to remain. re-main. Very interesting things have happened during my stay, and I'd like .o clear up the matter before I go." 1 "Did Major Desmond also as! )U to leave0" demanded Connie, turning to Nancy. ' I wonder if his reason v. as the sairie as mine?'' The major smiled ' I doubt it very much, Mrs. Stanley. Stan-ley. I've only been on the ground a few iuys. but I've seen some tliir? I did not like, particularly within the last twenty-four bourn. And I th!i ' we could save Mrs. Burrard a rrroar. deal of unpleasantness if she wouid take our advice " "Nancy never took anybody's advice, ad-vice, not even Gerry's", snapped Connie, Con-nie, without stopping to think. The silence that followed was oppressive, op-pressive, and Nancy, confusedly drawing draw-ing patterns on the table-cloth withi her fork, could feel the insli'ent quos-, tinning of Major Desmond's glance. . - |