chin, while her blond countenance beamed on her companion. Nancy felt sure Tini’s hair was bleached, and wondered what it would look like after several months in the Pacific islands. It was too golden-blond to be natural. It proved amusing to find Tini so pleased with her situation for once.

So fascinated was Nancy in watching Tini that Mabel was returning before she gave the gentleman opposite Tini a fleeting glance. Then suddenly her eyes became fixed. Where had she seen that lean profile before? She tried to hold herself under control as her mind tied up the loose ends of memory. The longer she stared, the more positive she became that the horn-rimmed glasses and small mustache belonged to the same man who had sat beside the blond corporal the day she left her home town. Though she had had only a hasty glance as she went down the aisle of the train those faces had become indelibly impressed upon her mind.

As Mabel came nearer, Nancy saw Tini’s companion watching covertly. She couldn’t blame any man for being attracted by Mabel, for she was really worth looking at in her trimly fitting uniform with her cap sitting jauntily on her golden curls. But the man’s heavy-lidded glance had little admiration in it, only a sort of cynical calculation.

Nancy felt she must know if he was really the blond corporal’s train mate. Impulsively she said as Mabel handed her the package she had bought, “Danke schoen.”

She deliberately used the German word for “thank you,” and spoke loud enough to be heard across the aisle.

Her trick brought the expected result, for the man turned sharply toward her. Mabel glided into the seat opposite and glanced at her with a puzzled frown. When it was too late for regrets, Nancy felt the hot blood welling to her face. Others may have heard her, too, and what would they think?

Nancy Discovered Tini Across the Aisle

There was even a chance that the man might recognize her as the same girl who had sat in front of them on the train, even though she had worn a green suit then and was now clad in olive drab.

“At least,” she thought ruefully, “I could swear he’s the same man. But what’s he doing here with Tini Hoffman?”

Mabel had to speak to her twice before she heeded.

“They make grand sodas here, don’t they?”

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