| Show A APOL V leitha II allory becomes a luxury nurse when the she takes the case of 0 millionaire mason tannahill Tanna hiU she arrives at the estate and meets tanis widowed countess andres cynical sophisticate and char lene housekeeper who considers herself a tannahill Tanna hiU all AH ol of them ask curious questions about her family while she Is tending her patient her locket containing a picture of her mother is stolen from the dresser when old mr tannahill questions her about the life of her mother and father she teus tells him they were happy but that she knows nothing whatever of her mother other than that she was born in georgia Ch arlenes son justin arrives home on leave CHAPTER VII she had discovered to her surprise that at times she could almost ruffle him at any rate andres smile was rueful hes done better than I 1 you call him justin on such short acquaintance while I 1 remain mr tannahill ran 1 without your bermis rion I 1 shau shall call you leitha or shall we make it lee it is too absurd for you to insist upon remaining so formal with me perhaps justin said leitha prefers to choose those with whom she drops formality it should be her privilege hear hear andres said mockingly shall it be swords or pistols my mx boy now you see lee what you have done his dark eyes laughed into hers ashes doing very well tanis cool voice said behind them with a third man in the offing A gentleman on the phone for you leitha calling long distance how do you do it my dear with the scarcity of men her tone held amusement but her smile was a bit dubious as if questioning leinhas Lei thas methods leitha said for me im sure I 1 cant ir imagine agine but then she knew rich unreasonably her heart leaped she soon wished that she had not taken the call in the entrance hall within hearing of the others 1 I thought it might be you she said as soon as she recognized richs deep voice it was so deep she would not be surprised if the others could hear it too oh you did did you rich said so you were expecting me to phone mighty sure of yourself arent you baby not at all leitha returned certainly never with rich she was thinking im terribly surprised really you written so much as a post card 1 I got your letter lee which is why I 1 phoned you have bothered no bother his tone changed im worried about you no need to be leitha assured him sweetly im perfectly all right im getting along beautifully tm im very happy here in fact I 1 simply adore it its such a gorgeous place and everyone is so nice to me that richs deep drawl cut her eloquence short Is that what your kidnappers kid told you to say honey listen his tone became more serious us 1 I want you to get out of there as soon as you can while you can baby im sure I 1 dont know what you mean leitha said even more sweetly but she was angry suppose any of those words had carried to the others but then anyone who overheard rich would think he was ovas crazy kidnapers indeed you must know what I 1 mean you write me his voice ras accusing people stealing into aur our room stealing your but I 1 got it back leitha broke in she was sorry now that she had on an impulse written rich about the locket what difference does that make now his tone was loudly indignant and all of them making up to you it mean a thing leitha spoke loudly too to drown him out she almost wished he phoned although it was nice to hear him yell at her again says you rich returned your writing was so wobbly in spots I 1 could barely make it out but I 1 made out enough to know you ought to get out the reason I 1 called you if your only reason leitha said coldly youre wasting your money rich and youre wasting your time he came back at her another luxury case worse than that if you dont listen to me toots wake up one of these fine days and find things worse A murder or something leitha realized that the receiver in her hand was shaking murder rich must be crazy better not waste any more time or money said leitha frigid ly rich was crazy nothing she had written should have alarmed him she had told him how beautiful the country was and how friendly everyone was toward her describing each one briefly leitha and rich have a quarrel thanks I 1 wont now his tone was cross pride pricked again no doubt ill hang up it if youre too busy to converse with an old friend for a few minutes only dont say I 1 warn you about that lug andy or andrew or whatever you call him he sounds like a smoothie othie to me better watch him sweetie pie and that phony countess and the old man even it if he is king tut and the whole really rich leitha protested she was furious not a word about having missed her or wondering it if she had changed her mind about marrying him 1 I am busy she said firmly using her most professional voice now it was nice of I 1 you to call but I 1 shall have to hang up im afraid ill save you the trouble lel this time his voice was so loud and furious she was sure it made the big house quake go ahead and wallow in luxury and be taken in by your benefactors it if you find in time that you need me or help of any description you can reath reach me for a while at the same number ill be sure to she slammed the receiver down high spots of color stood out in her transparent skin her eyes were fiery she did not know anyone male or female who could aff affect act her as could rich she could get so angry at him that she actually ached she tried to shake her anger off as she walked across the marble parquet toward the living room into which the others had disappeared she joined the group settled in their usual places around the enormous fireplace As she passed the piano andres idly striking a few chords flashed her a quick sympathetic glance not bad news I 1 trust he murmured running a nimble scale leitha shook her head andres said in that same low tone under cover of a little melody he now began to pick out you can leave instructions you know that anyone you do not care to talk to is not to be put through one blessing about tannahill 11 his smiling dark eyes held hers he seemed to want to share whatever emotion held her good or bad as if to prove that their friendship was close its au all right leitha said her smile was fleeting as she went on she did not mean to reject andres offer of understanding sympathy but she was reluctant to accept it justin leaped to his feet to offer leitha his place on the small sofa beside his mother please sit here he urged and lietha if there is anything I 1 can do to fo you I 1 sure would be most happy there is nothing leitha knew she spoke too sharply but really all this concern this interest in her personal affairs was too much she was a grownup grown up young woman she NN I 1 N it was nice of you to call could manage her own affairs without assistance from anyone including captain richard W hallern she walked behind old mr tannahill who was again enthroned in his wheelchair to deliberately sit down on another larger sofa beside tanis tanis let her knitting drop into herlac her lap her beautiful face wore the amused look it had when she dropped the mask of boredom A discussion 0 of family names ali ah to be young again her sigh was mocking yet not bitter she seemed pleased that leitha had chosen to sit by her its fun it leitha to keep them dangling and they ahey deserve it the brutes since this is still in spite of change completely a mans world Is this young man of yours coming to visit us we could most certainly do with a few more young people at tannahill she stressed this last casting a glance in Ch arlenes direction another look more barbed went to andres now rising from the piano bench to saunter toward them perhaps she was pleased because andres would now have some competition for there was no doubt of her jealousy of leitha yes indeed child mason basoa tan now spoke up in a manner that demanded silence from the others if you wish to invite any friend of yours to tannahill please feel free to do so it would be pleasant to have more young people around as in the days of old it would do an old fellow like myself no end of good so by all means you must ask this friend of yours to come may I 1 ask his name without seeming to be rude my dear his name is haller leitha replied she hoped that ridiculous color was not standing out in her cheeks she felt both andres and justins eyes upon her richard haller but I 1 doubt if he could come mr tannahill hes a captain in the army stationed in texas now invite rich to tannahill indeed over my dead body she thought thought grimly haller faller I the old gentleman repeated there was a dick haller who was a classmate of mine younger than I 1 his uncle was richard Weri weather the inventor and writer does your young man have a middle name my dear he has an initial leitha said it is W but I 1 never asked what it stood for and rich never said do they come from atlanta mason tannahill persisted leitha said that they did he nodded with satisfaction then it must be the same family he said you must ask this young man of yours when you write about that middle initial he may get to visit tannahill yet justins young face wore a tragic expression at the mere suggestion that another young man might come to see leitha andres too appeared to be on the alert tanis as usual wore her smug air of boredom charlene looked frankly interested it may not be the same haller family at all uncle mason suggested tanis family names dont mean much why leinhas Lei thas own name is one from our family and since leitha is no relation to any of us she stressed this the mocking light flaring in her smoldering eyes it does not seem that this young captain should necessarily be related to the hallers and weri weathers you knew 1 I am sure he is old mr tannahill seldom relinquished an idea he had come by of his own accord if so he must be a splendid young man and it would be a pleasure to have him here at tannahill family names are used by outsiders now and then mason tannahill continued especially an agreeable one such as leitha it has a musical sound it is the sort of name a woman might choose say from a book but lee said you lee andres dark eyes derna demanded Qed an answer that yours was not chosen at random you named after someone in your family yes I 1 was Leitha met his she was tired of all this there was no mystery about her name 1 I was named after my great grandmother I 1 am supposed to have her red hair how interesting charlene exclaimed leaning forward her face pinker than ever in the glow from the small fire your shade of hair runs in our family too tanis said that particular shade not auburn and carroty is most unusual it could be touched up leitha broke in she was certainly bored with this subject oh but yours cant be charlene protested of course it justin agreed with his puppy loyalty leitha do such a thing her hair is spun gold we have a poet in the f anyway andres said f E il if 1 if lee does look like some ok 0 l ku ancestors as well as her own moth er it is our loss that she is not i 3 long lost cousin leitha thought how does he know that I 1 look like my mother unless he saw the picture in my locket yet andres had been the only one except old mr tannahill of course whom she had not suspected of taking and replacing the locket tanis made a mocking retort she could not speak to andres it seemed without being bitter it must be awful leitha thought to care about someone like that and not know if the someone cared tor for you you why they come out with it those two for leitha really believed that andres was fond of bal his 1 cousin if not in love with celcy heido was difficult to imagine the andres very much in love with anyone unless perhaps with himself mason tannahill said that he believed he would take himself oft off to it bed you stay with the young people leitha union will tuck me in I 1 dont need you leitha would have preferred to go Is with her patient luxury nurse she thought not without bitterness and the thought brought back richs deep voice and the quarrel they had over her staying on this case the thought of richs dictatorial attitude may have been what made her decide to be unusually nice to justin for the remainder of that evening rich need not think he was the only man in her life besides justin was a nice boy and there was no doubt as to how he felt about her andres issues A caution had she known what being nice to justin would lead to the next morning on her ride with andres leitha might have stuck more firm ly to her first resolution not to be come personally entangled with ana an member of the tannahill family they had stopped and dismount by the lake which had come i to fc their usual destination when andres observed that leitha had been unusually nice to justin the previous evening you really you know not if you have a heart he said as he came to throw himself down on the soft mat of pine needles beside her you dont want to break the boys heart do you lee 1 I dont believe theres any danger of that leitha answered there might be andres insisted justins just a youngster actually Ch arlenes fault ashes made such a fuss over him hes all I 1 have you know he mimicked mrs Up fields tone so perfectly that they both laughed leitha said if you think there danger of his being hurt by there anc ing me I 1 shant be nice to him TO BE CONTINUED A V |
