The Indianapolis times. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1922-1965, 1930-06-21

which Cynthia admitted herself with
her key, the one personal belonging
she had kept-everything was the
same as when, some hours ago, she
had left the building. That is to
the eyes of another everything
would have seemed unchanged.
But in the hours that had elapsed
since Cynthia had yielded to Flea
nor's persuaSions things had hap
pened to alter, perhaps distort, Gym
thia's vision. She had left this
apartment a chorus girl in Zog-
baum's show
Accustomed to no luxurious way
of living, this dwelling place of hers
had not seemed so bad. True, it
was not as airy and spacious as the
Ohio home had been, but compared
with rooms in European pensions
it had not suffered.
She had dreamed of nicer things,
of ways of living superior to this,
but these dreams had not formu-
lated themselves into anything def
mite.
She had read of yachts and coun-
try houses and Of the thousand and
one dainty luXurieS with which
women of fashion ease the task of
living, but reading and seeing are
different things.
TODAY she had glimpsed the
Il realities of wealth, and had
not seen them as a spectator, but
as one of wealth's sacred circle. The
SAWYER mansion, with its magnif-
icent ballroom, with its throng of
guests about each and every one Of
whom seemed to hang an aura Of
money; Eleanor's bedroom. its furn-
ishings, the dressing table access
series whose cost alone must have
been more than Cynthia could earn
in years; Eleanor's maid; the new
home to which Dean Carey had so
proudly taken his bride; the houses
that abutted upon the garden which
was like an oasis in the desert of
the city; the servants; the motor
cars. These things had for the
time belonged TO Cynthia, been a
part of her life.
Always avid of impression, she
had not realized how waxen she
was, had not known how deeply
craven upon her consciousness each
new experience became.
But now she was surprised to
note that her first reaction was not
of despair that her fiat was empty
of people, but of distate because
it was bare of the niceties of ex-
istence.
For, instead of being aghast at not
finding Eleanor and Jennings here,
she was conscious of disgust at the
greasy carpet, the stained walls.
She sat down on rickety chair
that had been uncomfortable when
it was new and that had added
apprehension to discomfort as the
years passed by.
She tried to understand this new
Cynthia with whom she had just
become acquainted, this Cynthia
who. when she should have been
reduced to hySteria, instead turned
up her nose at matters that had
been more than endurable yester-
day.
She was no more given to self
analysis than any other healthy
young woman. Although ambitious,
she had been too content with life
to study her own reactions to this
and that.
But now, amazed at her self, be-
wildered that in moment like this
she could regret her lack of pos
session of things which she never
had desired ardently few hours
ago, she asked herself what manner
of person was this Cynthia Brown.
A ND, because she had the rare
N gift of self-honesty, she knew
the answer to her question. The
sudden contempt for her little fiat
was not due to any wish for ma
terial things, but was due to the
fact that material things oddly
seemed to represent Dean, and it
was Dean that she wanted.
And because she wanted Dean,
her first reaction had not been of
horror because Eleanor was not
here, but of self-contempt because
she belonged in this milieu and had
no right to want Dean.
She wondered if she had known
all along-that is, since she told
the taxi man to drive her here
that she would find her apartment
vacant. Had she known this, but.
because decency compelled her to
wish otherwise, refused to admit
her knowledge?
No, she haon't known it; she real
IL had expected to find Eleanor
here. But way down deep inside
her there had been a feeling of in
justice at the fate that had given
Eleanor the thing she did'H:t Rssnt-
Fanf