| Show THE HOPE CHEST By MARK LEE LUTH LUTHER Copyright t Drown ow isiS mi u 5 Co br by I CHAPTER CHAPTER 24 Tea Ethel Ethol became animated I wonder who has dropped In 7 But the tho tea service and Its comp com corn p lIIn motive motivo had alike vanished Mrs Irs Ballantine eat sat alone alono amidst the gilt furniture wIth Ith the rapt look of ono who had been vouchsafed vouch vouch- sated a vision Islon of ot s supernal bliss She has called she announced solemnly Mrs Eliot Lounsbury If It you'd come como five minutes sooner you would have seen them Them 7 repeated Ethel Ethe In the cause causo of or accuracy She brought Moll Molly with her The They were both so disappointed that you were out Sheila They seem to have taken a a. great groat fancy tancy to you Every Everything thins thins- went off ott beau beau- I insisted on their havInS' havInS having haying hav hay ing InS tea Lawson really did very ery well Tom barked out a savage laugh lauch Too bad old Ben wasn't dolled up In a wig and gold lace ac I ho I And An somebody ought to havo have played a royal anthem on the pipe organ His mother glowed loed a mottled red I wont won't allow you to take that l tone tono with me she rebuked I dont don't see how you ever picked up such ideas at Harvard You go goon goon goon on like a a-a a a socialist What Is a 3 socialist ho ho challenged chal chal- Something stupid and un un- un cou couth th Like George Bernard Shaw for example Hes He's one She ho shunned d tho the controversy and turned to Ethel foi for sympathy But Ethel who had bad anxiously counted the tho little pile of or Lounsbury Lounsbury Louns Louns- bur bury visiting cards lying on a a. ta table table ta- ta ble bin near at hand now stool aloof aloot with an air all of oC boredom Tom means that tha t were we're as good goodas i as 35 th they are are she aho said languidly and that there Is no reason to get exerted excited because they've recognized rec ree- I our existence If anyone l is I excited Tom Toni I i I I himself rejoined Mrs Balls tine with dignity and nd then per per per- e Sheila In quiet retreat called c. to her Dont go 10 yell yell- I forgot to tell you that Molly olty wants you to spend tho the day with her Sho She said eald S about bout lunch luncheon on and a concert Of Of course I assured fissured her you'd be bo de delighted de de- deI I f lighted to accept Shell She'll stop by r for tor you about 10 Sheila pulled herself together i iI I will telephone her ehe she ul Mid Sheila SheUn has another engage engage- throw In Ethel She hid had to refuse me mc too 1 7 Another engagement echoed Mrs Ballantine Who Is la It ItT nT J She Sho faced laced their united gaz gaze U i iThe The hour sho she had meant to snatch i ito to herself herselt In all privacy had be be 4 come a subject of general In and debate post posta a a. ij second t letter Name another day Then It crossed her that the bill at the vaudeville aude j Continued on following page puL THE HOPE CHEST Continued from preceding page pase house would change tomorrow By afternoon Lew Pam and his Ro Rose Rose- e- e Bronx Brooklyn Yonkers Yonkers the tho ends of ot the earth If It she sho was to see him at all It must bo be In the tho morning And see sec him she must one have havo secrets at this time of ot the sho year asked tryIng try try- ing to speak lightly tightly Why Wh I oven ran away from Tom this afternoon afternoon after atter- noon Molly wont won't mind If It I I. I I telephone h her r tonight Sho She can cnn ask someone In m my place I Mrs Ballantine was profoundly stirred I 1 fear tear you dont don't quite grasp what this moans means she sho said Tobe Tobo To Tobo bo be friendly at school is one thing thins In New York York York- She fumbled tumbled for tor words strong enough to bear the I mighty weight of ot the contrast Oh let her alone cried Tom I coming to the rescue These people people peo peo- plo will respect twice her as much If It she doesn't Jump at their beck II and call I I j Im Tm not attempting to coerce her said his mother What are you ou doing then I tol am merely offering her the experience of ot an older woman who has seen scan the tho world I I But Tom remorseless truth truth- truth 1 I teller riddled this sophistry with i unerring aim Its uIt's tho the Lounsbury world were we're discussing ho pointed out and when it comes to that Sheila cangie can give gi the rest of ot us cards and spades She's tho only one of or tho the family who's really had a look look-in Poor Mrs Ballantine eyed himas him himas as If It she could not credit their re re- re Surely this was a changeling she had borne f fI I UI trust that you ou m my be able to civilize him Sheila sho she said ris ris- na- na ing I have failed As they followed her out Ethel put her arm round Sheila I Youve Youre never seen my rooms she sho said Let ULet me show them to you now I It was her own room that sho I wished most to see but Tom was loitering to waylay h her r and ana I rather than be alone with him she at the Invitation FrownIng FrownIng Frowning Frown- Frown Ing his distaste for tor for women's women's wiles H he trailed after them to a rear stair and when the they reached Eth Ethel's Ethels Ethe Ethels Ethel's Eth- Eth e els el's s 's door Joor on the floor loor abo above c. turned I silently in iii at his own across l ross tho thi corrid corridor or These rooms room's were planned specially for tor me when the house houst i was built said Ethel switch switching ins inson on on the lights In a 0 chamber which would have havo sufficed for tor a drawing a-drawing room in an average dwelling Ive urve lived with tho the since I Iwas Iwas was a child you ou know and they wouldn't listen to my setting up for tor myself when I came camo of ot age But Im I'm nearl nearly as private ate here as asI I Id I'd be in m my own apartment And I r escape the nuisance of ot a com corn panion I She led her visitor through a spacious suite of ot sitting room i bedroom dressing room and bath and anti Sheila murmured the I adjectives tives a visitor would fe feel Cel l forced to r. r But sho she was staggered not charmed What hat she saw squared neither with the c she had acquired at school nor with her own notions of ot good taste Ethel was one of or that nu numerous numerous numerous nu- nu company of ot women whose esthetic perceptions reach Teach no farther tarther than clothes Her TIer rooms were wei-e crammed with faulty furniture furni furni- turo ture and senseless ornament Whatever she eho fancied she bought Her Jon long writing table looked like lIko tho the counter of ot a a. silversmith Her b brith th would have ha stocked the tho inner shrine of ot a beauty specialist Yet the Jumble had a curious unit unity Blind to harmonics harmonies of or Hn line she had an instinct for tor color She had mado made tho whole mad maci riot of ot luxury blend I 1 must havo rich warm tones about mo me she said Im unhappy py without them I dont don't know why They came to a 0 halt In the bedroom bedroom bedroom bed bed- room and waving Sheila to a seat she aha pres pressed a Jeweled button and with the celerity of or a Jinn jina her personal maid appeared divested her of ot her street suit swathed her in a pale palo yellow lounging robe and withdrew as softly as she sho had come como Sheila watched In silence and in sll silence nce noted tho costly el dl- dl l- l of or every last article she sho wore She Sho had seen such plutocratic plutocratic plutocratic pluto pluto- cratic vanities in shop windows but never on a human form tonn The Lounsbury girls' girls belongings were homespun In comparison Will you OU have a up pick-up of ot some sort 1 asked Ethel hospi tably I 1 Iwo the makings No uNo thank you said Sheila not quito quite sure what sho was refusing A cigarette Sho declined again No uNo small vices smiled Ethel Ill Til Indulge e by my ray lonesome if It you dont don't mind She Sho drew a 0 tipped gold-tipped cigarette from a n boule box and lighted it it- I uI keep them mainly for tor my friends sho ho ex explained explained ex- ex with an expertness expert expert- ness nells which belled belied her statement Flo 1 10 Satterlee for tor Instance is a 0 perfect chimney She was dying for lor a whiff last night but was afraid of ot Uncle Roger He lIe has hils strong views on women's smoking ing That's a n. stunning picture of Flo dont don't you think She waved her cigarette toward tho the dresser It was taken by a n new photos photos- j t who Is all aU the rage He wont won't give 1 0 sittings to every everyone one Sheila crossed to the dresser which like tho writing table Inthe in inthe inthe the room beyond groaned under its trappings but it was not the glorified taco face of ot Mrs Satterlee that h held ld her The central feature of ot the glittering display wa was wag a massive silver frame containing a photograph dashingly inscribed To my Gypsy Queen from her de devoted devoted do- do voted subject Tom As she read these words she realized precisely why Ethel had sent her to the dresser and that Ethel was as watching watching watch watch- ing Ins tho result of ot her experiment through the glass Its Ils a good likeness o 0 of Mrs Irs Satterlee Satterlee Sat Sat- she said and with what seemed to her superhuman n calm added And of ot Tom Of Ot Tom Oh that Oh-that that picture She laughed I tol feel as if JC I ought to turn It over to you ou m my d dear But perhaps you dont don't harbor any rankling little Jealousies of ot his past 7 No said Sheila facing around with a a. smile Nor of ot his present She curbed an impulse to bolt boH and they drifted in outward amity back to the room they had entered first Ethel was reminded d of ono one trinket after another that Sheila must surely see and the tour of ot other her chattels presently a window sent seat where with a little cry of ot surprise she stooped for tor a a. metallic object gleaming amidst tho the upholstery Toms pot cl cigarette easel lies He's very like likely hunted everywhere for tor It Have Havo you OU heard him mention it 1 Sheila again achieved the superhuman superhuman superhuman super super- human and smiled No sho replied Weve had hada a a. full day I doubt if It he has oven even missed It Ethel balanced the case cuo In her palm It must have lain here since last night she said He uHe dropped in after every ono one had gone Jonc to bed and we wo talked over the tho evening Just as we wo have talked over more evenings than I can count Then afe at It If she aha saw a familiar thing from a now new and startling angle she raised her lid freehand free trec hand to her lips tips and opened h her r dark eyes ces to the widest Do you OU know as we sat at here It nover never once occurred to me that he lie was married The faithful servant senant her tongue I stood Sheila in good stead Why should it 1 she he queried Tom long ago savo me to understand understand understand under under- stand that he lie looks on you as a sister Ethe too had a a. faithful servant ant I Its Ull's such a a. a relief reUel that you OU see sec things In a broad wa way she re rejoined rejoined re- re joined d without moving an Now I know von were not Ah th noyed about the photograph Sheila heard herself herselt laugh and then bandy the usual amenities of ot the threshold but these thes acts were instinctive and automatic Her active Intel intelligence ence was bus busy with the thought that pale yellow was 3 extremely becoming to a gyps gypsy queen rIP To ba be continued |
