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Show BORROWED HUSBANDS j MILDRED BARBOUR j : I I CHAPTER CXL MEASURING THE 1 LINE-UP. lH Curtifl Stanley bad invited in a nutn .-fr-.Ml Dei of friends for dinner that evening H Nanoy discovered when she returned KSH home, still smiling over the way Phil EjHQ? ;P Harding had tinwlii lnr;l opened t" Efl her a means or evading his unwel- ! tome attention i'l Poor old Gerry!" she Bald t her- j '""" Be'' ns sne dressed Ior dinner. 'Aa ' if he'd ever be so selfish as to make me promise not to marry again If he Kl died' Oerry Is too fine for that' Hk I.angwell mighl be capable o' it K. en if he wore very dead, his vanity would Eta receive a blow if Edith ever looked at another man. But Desmond -I don't Bl know E-fl Resting her elbows on the dre??inc table, her chin on her crossed palms, she stared reflectively into the mir ror. She WAS pretty! The light on her blonde hair, the creamy color of her bare shoulders, the sheen of the silver sil-ver gown that encaed her slim figure were undeniably attractive, she admitted admit-ted to herself She was creating a irood deal of trouble for a number of people, she frankly realized As long .i- only men suffered, Bhe did not pfl mind: but the thought that she was jk involvinc Edith and perhaps arc onl M mg to Peggy Lewis's gossip even H Connie Stanley- was disquieting. B of all these disturbing H ibougbls was the conviction that her H Interest in Dr. Langrwell was increai ) mg rather than disappearing as rJ had confidently expected. Harding had been easy 10 handle. IH Curtis Stanley if there was an., truth HI in Peggy's inslnuatitons would be H9i another and much more difficult mal Hi ter. And bejond all others, was Ma- PH Jor Desmond, the most formidable of jjj all because he was in earnest 1 Ij No' that she feared Desmond He Hal was as fine and big and ns completely HI a gentleman as Gerry Bur rand, but ptt1 his very devotion and his unqueetlon- able belief In ids right to love her made him an indeterminable factor She felt for him none ol tlje fascina lions that Langwell exerted upon her. but what was more dangerous, her admiration ad-miration Of his sterling qualities and 1 her own uneasy sense of unfair play I made it impossible for her to dispose : of him as she would have done with j the others. As if in answer 10 her thoughts, the I maid brought up Desmond's card. "Mr. Stanley has asked Major Des inoud lo stay for dinner, and the Major Ma-jor wishes to know if he can see you for a few minutes In the library." "Tell him Ibat I II be down direct ly." Nancy abandoned her meditations and 'completed her toilet in short or-, ' dur. ' Before leaving the room .she went back and looked at herself again 111 j the pier glass. She felt somehow. 1 through I he intuitive power which Is, I undeniably woman's, that she was on the eve of a dramatic moment, andi being thoroughly a woman, she want ed to be sartorlally prepared to meet it. Her survey completed to her own I ! satisfaction, she went down to the li-' I brary. Desmond was standing at the win ! dow with his back to the room his I hands thrust into his pockets, staring I out into the darkened slreef. IN did not hoar hrr footsteps on the thick rug. He was unaware of I her presence until she laid her hand 1 on his arm and looked up at him with I smiling eyes For one instant before he had op portunity to -ei himself in hand, he looked down into her eyes, and Nancy drew back before the intensity of the love she read there He took a step alter her, grasping her by each elbow. "Nanrv." he said, huskily. "I've got my orders. I have to go back to England. Eng-land. Will you come with me?" |