OCR Text |
Show J BORROWED HUSBANDS MILDRED K. BARBOUR hi ' 'I 'CIAXX-'tiM V ! toi'tM 1021 i ljMyndlc.: . in, flQi&C of thos, .ir. .r. ralnj Aaine ehrl in sj.rmi; moon th. .-t.-a.ly .I.. . njioui 'fcJb Across the drive the MKpreen l'.... INKi of tin' t-jKfre lmll.-tii, in the v -?'- flldcd like phantoms over lorA-less iiii i. -the jfi'.W Hbrar e llgh' Under ill' -u drew tk. . Ed In the t. .i w .iKon. w be ef , JjHternoon ke.j lnto .hi-Jteh .hi-Jteh a wr . 'fc Jfes: j re tow ard the wln-y?.Kthe wln-y?.Kthe rr-i : :i flkTO to n.ake nut ali.rn Kiled gully and xat down was weirlnp th.- gown 4Tf had sent her, There had K?Ajn h-i ! the ,ln M'Hhllid tlv " :bttom ei i Mflpone ran-.: receiver without havlnp, i. Life the couch ) i0, Conn.e!" kIic said In an-ifBvolc: an-ifBvolc: ever the wire. "Have i yB'm Inc. Ai,rln . hoHhhone an t!Ii? 1 In p. i t in .'... i I ladles nh., i ,,i ., 7HBt)k to th. 'u . i fConnlo's vo: c v.-t? l-ri-tl-ii Idtemen'. "h ' .. jj of relief that sh wa-B wa-B : Impart the tidings v.., . that Nan ; 1. l , ,,u, be rathe i di.- !.!!, m you so keen about bcln- the ftBl" Connie's voice was ror-UHFlemn, ror-UHFlemn, -La r.rweli killed morning In rhlcajro " jjjWfOPPea tin- r ,i 1 , t jfclnst tli' Mill olce Is-suint: lu.licr,.uslv SHpent from the extended & Jot It hr. you saylnj.;. C.'nnlc? I I Kurti has tt.V a" ' "lar,. ub Is buzzing with It. My the most dramatic thing Memo thut some awful UmH aout t0 break some -rlle aboii- ti, t j- urette In fft?11 wanU',J hr out of tho way ... he had to have her out ff the way to save his reputation and he hire I that man you told about to take her driving and wreck tho car, but he didn't complete tho Job so Langwcll had to pretend to patch her up. liut he didn't: With the assistance assist-ance ol some nurse, he really let her die It was all coming out and the man went to Europe and the nurse manage1! to wurn Langwcll. but ln--t ead ni him running amy. what do you think he did 7 " Comm paused for breath, and Nancy Nan-cy said faintly: "Yet! What did he do?" "Well he performed an operation this morning, one of the most dangerous danger-ous and skillful operations known to surgery At the crucial point of It. 11 seems that h had to use a deadly serum se-rum put up in a little, glass tube And. my dear, he- deliberate!) crushed th- tube . . HU CRUSHED JUL TUBS!" Nancy uttered a little cry. "Did you ever hoar of such nerve? Such a perfectly splendid way of kicking kick-ing off? They say he just looked at the assistant surgeon and the nurse who were struck dumb With horror and he coolly picked the gloss segments seg-ments out 1 1 r his bleeding hand and aid: I have Just iO minutes more of life left I ran finish the operation In that time! Oh, Nancy, what cour age . , what aplendl.l bravado Connie- said a great deal more, but Nancy was not listening She hung up the receiver mechanically when Connie had talked herself out. She pushed away the tea table and sat back staring into the fire. , "What courage! What bravado!" Connie had said. Iangwell had died as he had lived. , cool, daring all things, matching Fato With bis cleverness, losing at the last but losing "game." The curse of It was that tho mem- I ory of him dead was more potent, more terrible, more Irresistible, than tho living man had been. She wondered If he had counted on this very factor with that diabolical Cleverness of his? She had been free! of the spell of his magnetism the ' night she had left his apartment after af-ter rejecting his proposal. She had believed then she had even believed the morning thut she had taken ESnld lilair to the train that his chapter had been closed forever in the book ol her life. But sitting there alone before the fire, uh.le the rain beat its monolori-OUS monolori-OUS tattoo against the window. 8he-felt 8he-felt herself transported to that bleak friendless house In Chicago whero "he I must be lying, just as Fleuretto, his Victim, bad lain Ln the summsr lodge at the lake, a still, aheet-covered figure, fig-ure, with no one to watch or mourn. Far away In France, Edith would be striving to find surcease for her aching ach-ing heart, unaware of the fact that she was a widow-, free of tho bondage forever. Suddenly it seemed to Nancy . that the room held a presence. The twilight WSJ lightened only by tho fitful flames, no street noises came through the heavy curtains |