For the first time Nancy felt a gulf widening between herself and the two loved ones back home. This was really her first great test.
Someone had asked Miss Hauser a question Nancy had not heard, but now she listened while their First Lieutenant said, “I think it might be safer just to send out cards. Then you’ll be more careful not to say on them anything that might betray our movements.”
At noon that day their convoy drew up at the rear of a hotel in a city so large it had taken them a half hour to reach its busy center. They were herded into a long room where a hotel clerk assigned them their quarters. There were to be only two to a room once more, so Nancy and Mabel managed to get together again.
When Nancy found there was a bath with shower she was exuberant. “Won’t it be wonderful to get really clean all over once more!”
She was peeling off her coveralls as she talked.
“We’d better enjoy the clean-up while we can get it,” Mabel warned. “I figure we’ve got a long train journey ahead no matter whether we embark on the Atlantic or the Pacific.”
The changes were swift from then on. They had lunch and an elaborate dinner that evening in a private dining room. To Nancy’s delight Major Reed had lunch with them. Before leaving the dining room Captain Lewis, who had arrived with him, gave them a talk, praising their diligence and cooperation during the training period.
Just before she finished she said, “I would suggest that you stay in your rooms and rest as you must be on your way again during the night.” That was all. No one knew what would be their method of transportation or where their destination.
“Might as well be a prisoner,” complained Tini, when she packed into the elevator beside Nancy. “I wanted to get my hair set. I look a fright.”
Nancy nudged her and whispered, “Be quiet! Elevator boys have ears, too.”