The Indianapolis times. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1922-1965, 1927-08-18
CHAPTER XIV

El HEN Vee-Vee Cameron had
Wf finished dressing for dinner
. that hectic Wednesday she
surveyed her reflection in the long
mirror of the closet door with COM
plete satisfaction.
"If the storm breaks tonight /
shall at least be dressed in honor
of the occasion. A dress like this
would help any girl to bear up
under disaster" she smiled.
1t was Jerry Macklyn, oddly
enough, who had designed the cos
tune. Big, red-headed, roughneck
Jerry was the last man in the world
to fit the average persons concep-
ton of the male designer Of wom-
ems clothes.
But he had insisted stubbornly
that his "Galatea" should have the
dress, had made a clever sketch of
it, had sought out the French dress
maker who could do justice to his
ideas.
Her clear green eyes, glowing like
jewels in their setting of copper
tinted lashes, laughed with pure
JOY in the perfection Of the picture.
II know now how Aunt Flora feels
when she dresses to receive a pro-
posal," Vee-Vee smiled. Il want to
look my very best when tell
Schuyler Smythe that his Princess
Vivian is really Princess Nobody.
"Then if he still wants to marry
me, nothing else will matter-not
even front page exposure"
She draped herself in the Span
ish shawl which she had bought as
a summer evening wrap-thick,
soft white silk, heavily embroidered,
deeply fringed.
Beneath the tight basque of the
dress was hidden Jerry's letter,
which she had never been without
since she had received it and which
she intended to show Schuyler
Smythe when she made her con-
fession to him.
She was about to leave the room
when it occurred to her that it
might be wise to destroy the clip
pings which Jerry had sent with
the letter. She had stuck them
away in drawer of her dressing
table, careless of the maids prying
eyes.
But now the unpleasant thought
came to her that if the storm broke
that evening her room might be
searched. The clippings would be a
link in the chain of evidence against
her, something concrete to connect
her with the strangely missing
Princess Vivian.
She opened the drawer, searched
through the litter Of handkerchiefs
and cosmetics and discovered that
the envelope was missing.
With fear-cold hands she jerked
open drawer after drawer, then flew
to her desk and searched it thor
oughly, but unsuccessfully. The en-
velope had undoubtedly been stolen.
"Oh, maybe the maid threw it
OUT she decided at last, impatient
of her own fears.
When she opened the door to
leave the room, a letter which mad
been stuck between door and casing
fluttered to her feet. She stepped
back into the room, closed the door
and tore open the envelope with
nervous haste.
The message, on a sheet of the
hotel stationery, was scrawled in
pencil, the handwriting that of an
uneducated person. Her eyes darted
down the sheet:
Dear Princess: I know who you
are and I can sell my information
to parties interested. But 1 won't
lei on if you will put hundred
dollars in an envelope and leave it
under the edge Of the carpet out
side your door. Your we'll wisher
and friend"
"Blackmail!" she whispered.
Then she laughed, crushing the
sheet of paper in her trembling
fingers. "a hundred dollars! Your
demands are quite modest my dear
well-wisher and friendl 1 wonder