The Indianapolis times. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1922-1965, 1928-12-07
CHAPTER I
ORCHIDS real name was

/
priestess and worshiped the moon.
And lived in a marble palace, and
danced before strange gods. Her
husband, at the time, feared for her
sanity.
But Mrs. Ashe laid it all to nys-
ticism and insisted upon naming
her child Ashtoreth, after the
moon goddess of old Egypt. 1t was
to Ashtoreth that pagan women
prayed. Maidens seeking lovers.
And wives desiring children.
Mrs. Ashe thought it was a love-
ly custom, and sometimes begged
favors herself of the moon. Not
that she believed in it at all. It
was merely a harmless little fam
tasy, and pleased her sentimental
nature.
Naturally Ashtoreth hates her
strange name. People are always
asking what it means, and she
finds explanations exceedingly en-
barrassing.
When she was small, the children
with whom she played called her
Ash-Ash. 1t sounded rather like a
cellar-way, or something gray and
grubby; and the child hated it with
all her fastidious little being.
1t was not only ugly. 1t was ut
terly incongruous. Because Ashto-
reth Ashe is as exquisite a girl as
ever lived.
She looks a little like Dolores del
Rio, only there is something more
mysterious about her.
Her skin has a sort of ivory pallor.
And she has gray-green eyes, and
vivid lips. Because her cheeks are
colorless, the effect of her full, red
mouth is startling as scarlet on old
ivory.
She has high cheek bones, and
pointed little chin. So that her
face seems curiously heart-shaped
The effect is accentuated by the
way in which she does her hair. 1t
is straight black hair. Parted in the
middle, and twisted in great coils
over her ears.
Victor Hugo said once Of a thea
trical celebrity: "She is not pretty
she is worse"
Now, Ashtoreth is not really
pretty. She is rare. Different from
other girls.
There are, for instance, typical de-
butantes, typical stenographers and
typical sportswomen. Exactly as
there are typical wives and typical
chorus girls. But Ashtoreth is not
SO easily classified
When Hugo spoke of the dancing
girl, he probably had in mind that
seductive quality known as sex ap-
peal. A vulgar expression, but in
elusive of attributes difficult of ex-
preston.
HOLLIS HART, the famous
L i financier, was extraordinarily
impressed the first time he saw her
and Hollis Hart was not a sus-
ceptible person.
1t was a stormy day in January
when Ashtoreth-summoned by an
electric buZzer on her Gesk-glided
into his private Office, to take her
first dictation from the famous Mr..
Hart.
Ashtoreth was wearing a black
crepe, swathed about her hips and
caught on one side by an odd
buckle. A most unusual buckle.
A collector would have noticed it
OF once, and specula5ed upon its
origin. 1t happened, however, that
Ashtoreth had made it herself, with
two sticks of sealing wax. One of
green, and the other of gold. The
effect was of notified jade.
On the forefinger of her left hand
she wore a scarab, set in dull gold,
and reaching exactly to the first
joint. 1t was not really an old
scarab, nor valuable.
But, as Ashtoreth knew, there are
very few people who know antique
ScarabS when they see them.
She had found the stone in
jewelers. tray, priced, among various
odds and ends, at SO cents. The set
ting she copied from ring in the
Egyptian room at the Art Museum.
The whole thing cost perhaps SIS,
and looked fabulously rare and
costly.
Ashtoreth never had much money
to spend on herself. But with a
meager expenditure she achieved
considerable distinction. Shoe and
stockings were her greatest extrava-
ganee.
Sheer chiffon hose, and scarab
ring. A swathed crepe frock, and
high heeled pumps. Eminently un-
suitable, of course, for business
wear. But Ashtoreth never aspired
to be correct. She was individual.
Moreover, she was clever.
"Other girls" she told her mot her,
conform to style standards. They
wear their skirts so short you'd
think they were having a COMPETE
ton. They use the same sort of per-
fume, and the same kind of face
powder. Their dresses are all of a
pattern. And their jewelry looks as
if it had come off one counter. They
even do their hair alike. They var
nish their finger nails, and shave
their necks. They see the same
movies, and read the same books"
AShtoreth shrugged diStastefully.
"And I've no doubt" she said,
"they think the same thoughts-if
any,"
MFRS. ASFE had met her daugh-
4V1 ter downtown for luncheon.
She was wearing, st the time, a
purple velvet coat, and gray pumps
and stockings. Her dress was flow
cred chiffon.
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