The Indianapolis times. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1922-1965, 1930-06-12
CHAPTER EIGHT

A s it was, thrust through no
IA real volition Of her own into
an amazing masquerade. it never
occurred to her, as she told the man
to drive her to the Molvania. that
later on the man might remember,
when questioned, that he had driven
Eleanor from the cheap hotel where
Phil Jennings lay in sernf-con1a.
Indeed, little clear-cut thought
formed in her bewildered brain. She
was too blurred, too obseSsed with
the feeling that she was doing a
wrong, but that it was wrong that
some queer fate had planned long
ago, when she and Eleanor had been
cast in the same mold, and that it
was wrong which she was ordained
to do.
Wrongdoing, to the normally
minded person, presents itself as a
complicated maze, beset with pit
falls and distractions which should
deter the evil-minded at the very
outset.
Virtue is prone to look upon vice
as something so foreign and out
landish that its very aspect is a
warning.
Foggy though Cynthia's mind
was, she yet vaguely feared that
this mad-and notwithstanding
would be cut short before it was
fairly on its way. She was to learn
what, amazingly, has to be taught
to every one; that one step in the
wrong direction is easy, that the
second is easier, that the third is
less difficult, and that sin is in
finitely less complicated than good
ness until a certain point is reached.
Riding to the Molvania, feeling
the taxi man, passing through the
lobby, unlocking the private door
and stepping furtively into the
SAWYER home we're all surprisingly
simple things to do.
The curiouS-minde who fingered
before the brides home never
noticed the girl who emerged from
the taxicab. The persons who were
in the apartment house lobby didn't
glance at her. The injurious at
tendants paid no attention to the
girl who unlocked the private door.
This very lack of curiosity was
perhaps why they remained lackeyS.
For the ignorant are interested only
in something noisy or eye-filling. A
girl going about her business meant
nothing.
Nevertheless, easy though the first
steps Unexpectedly had proved to
be, the feet that had taken those
steps were uncertain as they turned
to the left toward the flight Of stairs
that Eleanor had described to her
double. And the knees above were
weak and shaking as the ascent be-
gan.
From somewhere at the right
came noises, as of herd of milling
cattle, or possibly more like the
buzzing of a hive of Gargantuan
bees.
These were the sounds made, she
assumed, by the guests and relatives
at the wedding breakfast. Bewilder-
ment and fear both left her, to be
replaced by cool caution.
TIP to now her fears had been
~ concerned solely with the
possible effect of her representation
upon Eleanor Sanvir-or rather
Eleanor Carey. So soaked had she
been in the personality of Eleanor.
so submerged in thought of the
scandal that might break about the
head Of the reckless girl. who was
now speeding toward Phil jennings
that she had given no heed 70 the
dangers that threatened herself.
But now the sounds made by the
throng. muffled though they were
by distance and closed doors, be-
came minatory, and the menace
seemed directed toward herself.
For q scandal that might wreck
Eleanor would engulf Cynthia.
Eleanor had money; she had
father whose power might easily
extend TO the press. Moreover. to
aid Eleanor in her battle against
scandal there would always be the
sosacing support Of some ones love,
Weakling though the Jennings
man unquestiona6ly was. the mutual
love existing between him and
Eleanor would be a tower Of refuge
whittier Eleanor could Zee. A great
love IS q buckler, spear. al engine
OF attack and Of retreat. It is like
magic cloak which at viii renders