The Indianapolis times. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1922-1965, 1925-11-04
The Story of a Modern
Girl and n

hammered, unObtruSiVe girl in whom
Joanna had first seen utter unattrac-
t~iveness, but who had caused her to
wonder, after a bit, if her own lips
were not Il little too scarlet.
On the girls arm was Joanna's
wrap and in her hand was Joanna's
hat. 1t was the same fur wrap
Joanna had thought to be in direful
risk of the pawnshop when Graydon
summoned her from the silk counter,
presumably to her dismissal for
some unknown offense.I The hat was
the n still unpaid for.
The sudden sight of the flneries
she could not afford, either to have
or not to have, SEN her into a tor
rent of hysterical laughter. Gray.
don gave the secretary a hasty
sign. Both waited until the girl in
the chair quoted, her laughter dying
away in stifled sobs. The secretary
moved toward her, then, and held
her wrap.
Automatically Joanna drew the
cloak around her slender figure.
Then she fixed her hat. Suddenly
she turned, faced Graydon again and
cried out to him;
But what am 1 to do-with the
money!
The man answered in the even,
curiously convincing manner that
so completely baffled her: That is
one of the questions 1 may not
answer. I shall be eager to know
what your decisions will be-"
fTT]1 HE secretary would have com
forted the girl; would have
- taken her arm and led her
out into the store and to the street.
but Graydon stayed her with a mo-
ton of his hand, as if whatever
Joanna was to face, she must face
it alone. Joanna CROPPED her way
across the office and the reception
room. The secretary held open for
her the outer door. For a moment
she leaned against it. Before her
eyes the busy people who hurried
through the passageways between
the partitions of the cubbyholes on
the office floor" seemed to be swim
mers in a whirlpool. She felt that
GraydOn had followed her and was
standing close. Without turning she
asked, her voice rising barely above
n whisper:
(which way do 7 go?"
A long time afterwards: when
Joanna Of the skirts too short and
lips too red and tongue too pert
had become a Golden Girl around
whom a vortex ragged. she emem-
bered Graydon's reply to her
whispered appeal.
81 wish that 1 might show YOU,
my dear; but it is every girls burden
to choose for herself. And as each
n of you makes your choice, the
world becomes better or worse. You
may go either to the right-or to
the left"
When the door closed behind the
girl who had been Miss Twenty
Seven of the Silks" Graydon asked
the secretary to get for him, on the
telephone, the bank whose letter
Joanna had wonderingly carried
away in her hands. ASK that I
have Mr.. Eggleston. He is expect
ing a call from me-"
The telephone conversation was
brief. Graydon seemed only to wish
that his friend. the closest Of the
friends of his elderly years, should
know that she" was on her way
to the bank; hat 'she" would be
there In a few minutes.
At the other end Of the wire An
drew Eggleston, a gray nan VINO
might have been nodded from the
same pattern that had shaped Gray
don except that the lines of his face
were sterner, the lights Of his eyes
less gentle and his gestures more
spasmodic, would have had his
friend say more. He was unhappy
with his own curiosity. Andrew Egg
g~leston, chairman Of the board Of
the great banking institution, and