Page:Barbour--Peggy in the rain.djvu/126

 drink and he gulped it down eagerly. Gradually it produced a change of mood. The whole thing was absolutely absurd, he told himself. The idea of letting any woman get such a hold on him! Why, he was worse than any silly, love-sick schoolboy! He lighted a cigar, with a smile for his folly, and went out to his car. And in the act of entering his glance fell on a slim, black-clad figure and his pulses pounded and his heart leaped into his throat!

A second look showed that, the girl was not Peggy-in-the-Rain, and Gordon cursed himself for an idiot and resolved savagely to stop thinking about her. But in spite of that resolve his eyes searched for her in the gathering twilight all the way back to the club, where, discovering Peter Waring, he worked off a good deal of ill-temper on that good-natured and long-suffering friend.

The next morning there was a meeting of Central and Western directors, and Gordon, seated at the head of the long table listened absently to the proceedings and wrote "Peggy" over and over on the blue blotting-pad before him. The Commission was to proceed with its inquiry, but,