he had put Bauer's belongings,
including the paper with the drawings, into Bauer's locker, Walter found
himself working with nervous haste over his model. It went together with
wonderful exactness and in spite of his feeling that he was acting the
part of a miserable cheat, he was, at least, during a part of the time,
in a glow of enthusiasm. For the most part he worked at night, when he
was least liable to watching from the other fellows. There were several
reasons why he could do this, among them an unusual interest in the
school at that time in evening functions which drew most of the shop
workers out.

Walter took parts of his model up to his room each night and studied
them. At the end of two weeks he had completed the lamp and it remained
only to give it an actual test. No word had been received from Bauer,
and inquiry from different professors had failed to discover any news
from him. It seemed to Walter almost certain that Bauer would not
return, and each day of his absence gave Walter less uneasiness, if not
an actual dulling of the keen edge of his conscience.

The day before he planned to test his lamp at the shop, Walter received
another letter from his mother, one part of which annoyed him greatly.
His mother wrote chiding him good-naturedly for not sending his usual
weekly letter. In fact, since his discovery of Bauer's plan, Walter had
failed to write home, for the first time since coming to Burrton. He
could not account for this failure except on the ground that he was too
busy.

But his mother wrote without any knowledge of all this, telling him bits
of news that she thought he would most want to know.

"Your father has been asked by the Citizens' Committee, to let his name
go on the primaries for senator from the Fifth district. I have my
doubts about the wisdom of a newspaper editor going into politics, but
your father, while he had some hesitation, has finally agreed to let his
name go down. So now we can expect lively times in the Douglas family
until after election next fall.

"Helen has two more beaus, one of them ten years older than herself. I
am not making fun of this, as you know, for I have tried to teach you
all that the love part of life is in some ways the most serious as well
as the most happy of all your experiences. Helen has good sense when it
comes to a final decision on anything. I am not afraid for her.

"Louis is better than he has been for a long time. His eyes are stronger