New Britain herald., 1927-12-13
made you so late? We though you'd be here at half past six" Dat urjpped broadly a nd eDga ripp-

made you so late? We though you'd
 be here at half past six" | Pat grinned broadly and engaging
 ly at Lily. T had to clean up the i car" he answered. This Miss Lex 1 ington I work for used the Car for
 q picnic today and it was full of mud
 and crumbs"
 Lily laughed aloud, and he laugh
 cd with her. But Mrs Frances face
 grew sober. Are you the Miss Lex ington Pats working for?" she ask
 ed, without shadow Of q smile. and
 Lily said that she was, as she lit q cigaret from her little gold case. Mrs. Lexington watched her smoke 1t with startled eyes. After | ward Lily found out that 1t was the
 first time she ever had seen a wo- man smoke a cigaret But at the time she wondered why tho little ! cheerful woman stared at her so, i through steel-rimmed specta cles. From the other side of the table. 1 Florence stared, too. She scem- d to be wondering what Lily was | doing in her mothers kitchen. But If Lily seemed out of place in the clean. humble home. she did not ! feel the least bit out of place. She felt thoroughly at home. however, eating the corned beef that Pats silent. good-looaing father sliced for her. She ate every mouthful of it. too, although she had had no appe- tite for veal and cocoanut custard pie at home.
 At twenty minutes to eight Flor cnce's sweetheart rang the doorbell, and Florence, who had barely spok- on, excused herself to go to the nov ies with him. Then Pat and his fath- CT vanished into the basement 10 have a look at the famous pis, on ring that Pat said would make his fortune, and Lilly was left alone with his mother.
 They talked while Mrs France did the dishes and Lily sat, smoking cis- aret after cigaret, without offering 1 to wipe dish or put kettle away. It never occurred to her to help She was having q beautiful time, listening to Pats mother tell her all about Pat from the time he was q little boy and played all day and every day with a cheap red tin auto mobile.
 Hes cracked on autom obile ma i clrinery and that's the truth" she said. we didn't want him 10 be a chauffeur for you or anybody else. We wanted him to go into the gro- Cerv with his father. but he said he | knew more about carburetors than | cabbages. He has cute way 1 of saying things, has Pat. He's a great boy"
 Lily agreed with her. in her i heart. She went home that night more in love with Pat than ever. She no longer saw him as her moth- CTS driver, but as his own mothers son-the son who had been "crack- i ed' on automobiles ever since his baby days.
 The next morning when she open i cd her eyes she heard Pats voice in 1 the hall down stairs He was talking 1 10 Mrs. Lexington.
 Usually 1t took Lily a long time 1 to get the sleep out of her eyes, but this morning sine was wide awake
 instantly.
 She hurried to the top of the stairs, in her sleeping suit of Chi
 nese silk, and listened
 Her mother was speaking now.
 "Ill show you how to serve If you'll
 come into the dining room," she
 heard her say. I'd like you 10 wait
 on table tomorrow night. I'm hay
 ing some people in, and tonight MT.
 Drummond is coming for dinner. Sd
 you can serve tonight, just for ths practice. Pat"
 Pat did not answer. The silence in
 the lower hall began to rumble in i Lily's ears after a minute or two.
 (TO BE CONTINUED)
 HYyf. ' r