New Britain herald., 1922-05-20
What Tom Chester Bought to
 Lillian's Attention,


 Tom Chester's voice, as he told Il that he had something interesting l. show us when he should have nu away the ladder, betrayed the excite ment he was evidently striving har, to suppress,
 realized that unconsciously he wa modelling his demeanor upon Lillian $ trying 10 emulate her poise and cool ness, her poker face" and voice Of de void of expression which she uset when there Is anything unusually i'm portant on hand But he was too young. too filled with boyish en, thusiasm to be successful in his imi. tation, and Lillian nudged me geeful. ly when he had gone 10 the barn tc return the ladder he had used ir climbing to the roof. and was safel, out of earshot,
 Bless his heart :" she said mater. nallq Hes so excited underneath that he can hardN keep from waving his arms and shouting. But he'd die before he'd admit it, Isn't that blase exterior delicious?"
 hNlSt 'hdht.> Il SueetStlOil.
 More than that I returned, try Ing 10 answer Lillian in kind
 But to my surprise l found myself secretly criticising her tone and man. ner, wondering if they were not bit supercilious when characterizing Tom Chester's honest young enthusiasm It was the first time that such a fbnnphf rF p' al. J1 crossed my mind, and it was but an instant before the reVulsion came. and l was scoring myself savagey for my disloyalty 10 my friend. hoping tremu- lously that her Keen insight had not guessed my thought.
 I could tell nothing from her voice. however when next she spoke, for all 1t apparently held was reflective curi- osty.
 He found something of Smiths. of course. ID there on the roof, some thing from which he probably thinks l can interpret the strawberry mark on the left shoulder. l hope, for his sake, as well as the investigation in general, butt hae me doots. Smiths altogether too caCy an individual to carry anything discriminating about him
 But, don't YOU think" l began diffidently, hesitating, for I feared that Lillian would deem absurd the thought which had struck me
 Co ahead, Spill it. she said and in the wavering gleam of the fash light I saw that the face she turned to me was attentive.
 Smith is so very conceited and ar rogant" I faltered, that I thought he might have conceived some plan for keeping reference data about him which he would figure no one could interpret but himself"
 Reading Glasses r
 That's very true,' she said heart ily 'and if he has been fool enough to violate the first rule of crookdom, hope the boy has 1t. Hush Here he comes, Hes simply bursting, he's so surcharged with mystery and i'm portance, We won't say a word. just let him stage his little drama in his own way"
 There was such genuine kindliness in her tone that l flushed in the darkness for my disloyal mental criti- cism of her. And then Tom Chester had joined us, and we made our way back into the living-room. and drew our chairs close to the cheery, leap ing flames in the fireplace.
 If you don't mind, Mrs. Graham I'll get a glass of water" Tom Ches- ter said. No. indeed" as I started to rise. T can help myself Shall I kring either of you glass;"
 He walked abruptly out of the room at our negative. and l saw Lilian's eyGbrows knit slightly, and knew that his subterfuge, for 1t was paTntly sucn, had puzzled her. Evidently young Mir Chesters little drama need ed a preliminary examination of it's 
 When he came back he drew from his pocket a small dark object, and handed it to Lillian with an echo of the remark he had made when com ing down the ladder
 T think you will find this of in- terest. Mrs, Underwood She took 1t from his extended hand comment, and I saw that it was an eyeglasst case, the tinest and costliest of it's kind. Lillian turned it over in her hands, examining it care fully, opened it, took out the eye glasses which it contained, scrutinized