The Indianapolis times. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1922-1965, 1930-06-17

her? Had the bizarre quality of
the affair. rather than a whitening
passion, made her embark upon
such madness?
If she contemplated discussing
this matter with Dean on some fu-
ture date. could mention lightly
that discussion, she could not look
upon this eScapade as anything
more than wild lark.
Cynthia was not enough &C
quainted with life and people to
know that the commonest thing in
the world is minimizing Of the
difficulties of the present in order
to enable one to endure them.
1t is always the future which we
paint in deepest black; the present is
passing so swiftly that we really
have not time in which to en-
phasize it.
Cynthia thought that Eleanor
was as callous, as insensitive, as
she sounded. Yet as she walked
to the door of the bedroom, she be-
gan to revise her just-acquired opin-
Non of Eleanor.
Carey's wife couldn't be as light
hearted as her last words indicated,
Then, as she opened the door,
Eleanor's attitude and feelings and
qualities, good or bad, became uni1n-
portant.
For Carter stood in the hall. She
had never been so attractive to a
man in her life, and the attraction
was intensified by his pathetic quail
ity To Cynthia he was pathetic
because of the fact that he was
being so outrageously deceived.
That he was unaware Of the de-
ception; that, please God, he would
never know of the deception, in no
way diminished the pathoS Of it.
Shall we go now?" he asked.
Looking at him, conscious of that
fine honesty which one Instantly
felt to be as much a part of him
as his eyes or his hands or his wide
shoulders, aware of that pride which
was as recognizable as his sincerity,
she wondered that Eleanor could
jest about telling Dean of this i'm
PRESERVATION.
How was it possible that Eleanor,
even though not loving the man,
could have advanced along the as
cending planes of intimacy that led
to an engagement and a marriage,
and. have learned so little about
him?
CHE, Cynthia, who had exchanged
- only half a dozen sentences with
him, knew that honesty and pride
are frequently the most infamma-
bic fuel for a conflagration Of wrath.
On that day when Eleanor should
let a perverted sense of hImor get
the better of her judgment, Cynthia
trusted that she would be in some
remote and preferably inaccessible
spot. She did not wish to be scorched
by the blaze of his contempt. An
advance tongue of that blaze
touched her cheeks now.
He advanced Solicitously to her,
but made no move to touch her.
I'VE can go down the back stairs,
out the private entrance" he sug-
geSted.
Cynthia nodded. She turned and
followed Mary into the bedroom.
Behind her came Dean. Uncon-
SciouSly he walked gingerly, tread
ing the floor of this apartment as
though he were entering some
sacred place.
why" he exclaimed, your room
is furnished just like this!"
He alluded. she knew, to the room
in the house which Eleanor's father
had bought and furnished as a
bridal gift.
Your father and the decorators
copied this room exactly" went on
Dean.
How simple honest men were!
Eleanor had, Of course. conspired
with the interior decorators, but 50
shrewdly that SAWYER had thought
that copying this room was his own
idea.
It was a petty deceit. as compared
with the larger deceit that had fol-
lowed, but it threw another sidelight
on the character of Eleanor.
It showed that SelfiShneSS had not
been a sudden growth. forced into
ripeneSs by the exigeneieS Of mo-
ment, but that it had been a sturdy
Towering plant for a long time.
q
COONER OF later Dean would dis
- cover these petty matters. He
might never know that for the first
few hours OF his marriage his bride
hung over the bedside of another
man. but Eleanor would brush the
bloom of the rose by other actions
and Cynthia blushed in vicarious
shame.
Again Carey misread the HurN
upon her face. His own Einpar-
rsssment became acute. Like two