“If he’s that fickle I’d rather know it now,” Mabel said with a toss of her head. “But really I’m not uneasy. Jake’s sold on my red head. There aren’t so many redheads, you know.”
“He’d better not go to Turkey then. They tell me there’re plenty of red-headed dames there,” put in one of the nurses near by, who had overheard their conversation.
Nancy finished her letters and while waiting for Mabel she noticed Tini standing not far from them. There was a scowl on her face as she impatiently tapped her fingers on the window ledge. A slit envelope and an open letter were in her hands. Nancy couldn’t help noticing the return address on the envelope, “Hotel Carlton.”
“My good-looking date had to leave unexpectedly,” Tini replied. “Makes me sick!”
“You’ve been lucky to have him here at all,” Nancy said. “Most of us have been dateless for three weeks.”
“Huh, I always have dates wherever I go.”
“Sure, you’re different,” Mabel said sarcastically. Her long acquaintance with Tini left little patience with her superior attitude. “The rest of us made up our minds when we came into the Army Nurse Corps, to give personal consideration second place for the duration.”
“Zat so!” snapped Tini, rudely turning her back.
Nancy and Mabel exchanged significant glances as they left for the mess hall. As Nancy ate her appetizing dinner she thought over what she had just learned. She felt actually sick at heart over this unpleasant business of suspecting a fellow student.
She had no desire to be a spy. Yet when she recalled the horrible scenes at that wreck, caused by sabotage, she shivered. She would never forget the dead and dying she had ministered to that awful morning. As much as she hated the unpleasant position into which circumstances had again thrust her, Nancy was determined to let no squeamishness make her keep silent. She had no choice but to report what she had just learned about Tini’s date to Major Reed. If the man was really an enemy spy, he must not be allowed to escape again.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Nancy excused herself before Mabel and her friends had finished eating, and left the mess hall. She found Major Reed alone this time, sitting at his desk. She was not unmindful of the brightening of his face when he saw her. He was such a large man he seemed older than he really was. Nancy had at first thought he was about thirty, but now he seemed nearer twenty-five. He had gone far for one so young.