This page has been proofread, but needs to be validated.
168
THAT ROYLE GIRL

after he had discovered the picture of Calvin Clarke.

"A gentleman of genealogy," observed Dads with expert aloofness. "I profoundly approve of genealogy," he pronounced as though Calvin Clarke had caught his interest for the first time. Arising, he left the newspaper upon the little table where Joan Daisy examined it while clearing away the dishes.

Below Calvin's picture appeared a few lines relating bits of the Clarke family history which had escaped publication in connection with the Ketlar case; and Joan Daisy was bent over the paper when Dads reëntered, ready for the street in his new, smart top-coat, his new pearl-gray hat and in his hand, his new, impressive stick (all paid for).

"Are we going to town together?" Dads reminded her.

"What?" she asked, for thinking of a question, which Calvin Clarke had put to her in this room, and which always had puzzled her.

The question, taken together with her answer, revolved in her mind while she made ready to go out, and occupied her especially when she passed the automat, which was become a place of encounter with Mr. Clarke.

At the elevated station she purchased a paper for herself in order to reread the lines below his picture; and then she turned to the column reporting his conduct of the arson case.

"Why!" she exclaimed to herself. "He's right in this!" and as she read the questions and answers and the combat of the attorneys, she felt aroused against Augarian's lawyer and the tricky witnesses who helped him.

She was still so aroused, when she arrived at Elmen's office, that papa Max critically scanned her cheeks, believing that she had put on too much color to-day; but he saw, with satisfaction, that the surplusage of red was her own, and he complimented her.