The Indianapolis times. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1922-1965, 1927-08-11
CHAPTER XIX

1.-THE sight of Jerry Macklyn's
bold, black, angular hand
~ writing on the large sheets OF
office stationery which Vee-Vee I'M
folded caused her a tiny pang of
home sickness.
Dear Jerry! The thought fitted
through her mind as her eyes swept
over the sheet before they started
to read; then excitement blotted
out the image of Jerry. For,
enthusiastically Jerry jumped into
the heart of his subject:
Dear Vee-Vee: I'm scared stiff.
Gosh, how could I know whose
picture I was copying when played
Pygmalion for my bespectacled
private secretary There wasn't any
caption on the darn thing, and I
lay it all to her blamed green eyes.
Just the color of yours, Vee-Vee,
you darned little natural-born
vamp that was about to miss her
calling!
"Well, I found out after you got
your hair bobbed just like hers
and I'll bet there is not another
bob in the world just like yours and
hers. But then it was too late to
change you and I thought I'd let
it ride, without telling you.
mo use to get you all stirred up,
I figured. I thought I'd be able to
persuade you to keep out OF troubles
way by becoming Mrs. Jerry Mack
lyn, but when nothing would do
you but to chase off to Lake Min
netonka in quest of a sheik, I knew
I'd better warn you, specially in light
of recent developments"
"Why doesn't he tell me who I
amp" Vee-Vee scolded.
She read on, her green eyes wide
and avid: when I read the en-
closed story in one of the scandal
sheets today. after I'd left you this
evening, I knew I didn't have any
time to- lose.
"The likeness is too startling to
miss causing a small riot. You'll
see by the enclosed clippings that
you are an almost exact duplicate
of the famous Vivian Crandall. Can
you beat it?
1.-THE initials are the same, too!
She's the American heiress, worth
forty millions or SO i'll. her own
right, to say nothing Of what she'll
get when her daddy croaks. Maybe
you remember that the luscious
Vivian was married off to a Rus
sian prince by her title-worshiping
mama about four years ago.
"But you can read the whole story
in the enclosed clippings. The
dickens of it is that Vivian divorced
her Russian prince in Paris about
three weeks ago, came back to New
York, had a bloody battle with her
bitterly disappointed mama. and
disappeared.
1.-THE papers have been full Of ru-
mors as to what the fair Vivian was
doing, the general opinion being
that she was in hiding somewhere
with a good-looking ne'er-do-well
she'd picked up in Paris while she
was getting her divorce.
"You see the idea Somebody is
going to spot you, jump to the con-
clusion that you are Vivian Gram
dali, and draw down on your de-
fenseless head a CHASTITY lot Of pub
licity. Now, don't want to fright
EN- you, honey" her breath caught
at that carelessly dropped word of
endearnent.
Was she becoming a cheap little
f1irt, gloating over her conqueSts as
Aunt Flora gloated over her hus-
bands?-"but if you should get into
such a jam las this-and you must
be in it or you wouldn't be reading
this letter. want you to wire me
Immediately.
It'll hop into an airplane If q
train can't get me there quick
enough, and I'll fight your way OH
of this thing for you. Trust Jerry!
I can't give you any more specific
instructions, for I can't tell, of
course. just what will happen.
II do know you could tell them
till you were black in the face that
you were Vera Victoria Cameron
and they wouldn't believe you, once
they got on your trail-the report
ers, I mean.
"Of course you will have this
letter to show, but they'll think it's
trumped up as part of your
incognito. Naturally the unpleasant
ness would only last a few days, thai
it, until Mama or Papa Crandal
could arrive to identify you. Anc
by golly, you might fool even them
"Now. listen: above all things
don't get the idea that 1t would b.
fun to be a princess incognito ane
try to play the game. Dangerou.
business, honey! I'm telling you
"The Crandalls might even bt
nasty enough to sue you for fraud
or MISREPRESENTATION or impersona.