The Indianapolis times. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1922-1965, 1936-05-01
CHAPTER NINE

T linda inspected herself care
IL fully in the mirror, and spoke
with sharp sarcasm, well, Miss
Bourne, you certainly are fasci-
mating woman. What is it that you
have, my girl, that ties men to you
with such utter devotion?"
She gave an angry glance at the
old-fashioned clock on the mantel
then, and went back to her book. 1t
was the newest best seller, but, for
all the attention she was able to
give 1t, it might have been a Stats
teal report of taxes in 1845.
The clock struck II and Linda
closed her book with bang. Def
nitely she was not waiting up. She
wouldn't wait until that hour for
any man. And what right did Peter
p. Gardiner have to treat her so
rudely? He had distinctly said he
would arrive at 8 o'clock. He
hadn't, and he hadn't phoned. Very
well. he'd never do that again. She
could get along very we'll without
him. If she never saw him again
it would be all right!
Nevertheless, she went to the
front door, opened it and peered
down the street before she went up
stairs.
I'm acquiring the bad habit of
talking to myself" she said coldly
to herself as she mounted the
stairs. And then did it again
Movie start"
TINE movie STAR Miss Honey
l. Harmon, appeared clearly in
Lindas mind. Miss Honey Harmon
gazing adoringly into Pete Gardi-
ner's eyes as she Struggled up to him
in her car. Linda wished she hadn't
seen them that afternoon. Since it
looked as though Pete were going
to be another memory in her life,
Linda wished that she hadn't seen
him last acting like a love-sick
shcoolboy.
Of course she'd have to see him
again, she thought, brushing her
hair savagely. She'd have to see him
every day at the Office. At that mo-
ment the Blade, her career, the
limitations of her life, presented a
drab prospect, and she tried to look
ahead at what the years might hold
for her.
True, she hadn't been sure she
wanted to marry Pete. She loved
him, in way, but, from the mo-
ment that she had promised to
marry him, she had felt she was
doing it to make him happy.
She laughed then, but not very
lightly. Make men happy? What was
the matter with women? Linda was
only 20, and the only two men she
had given any affection to had let
her down. First Dix and now Pete.
The strength of her affection for
Pete lay in her belief in his char
acter. And he had gone running off
with this blondined little movie
acreSs.
LIE probably was holding Hon
i Il ey's hand at the moment and
eating up her words, feeling like an
irresistible male. Linda wished she
lived in a world of women.
Pete Gardiner wasn't eating up
Honey Harmon's words, but he was
hanging on them. What Honey
had to say to him this night was
the most important thing in his
life at the moment.
For nearly 10 days since Honey
Harmon had come to Newtown, Pete
had been dancing attendance on
her, and since that afternoon,
since he had told her that he had
a play he wanted her to read, he had
been waiting for this moment.
Hadn't Holbein told him to "try
Hollywood" with his play? He
hadn't intended it for pictures, but
when fate dropped a golden-haired
opportunity, in the person of Honey
Harmon, but two inches from his
lap, who was he to refuse it?
1t meant everything to him and
everything meant Linda. If Honey
liked the play as vehicle for her
self and would buy it, he could have
Linda. There would be money
enough to support a wife.
He tried to talk about it in the
afternoon and he tried again during
dinner, and when finally Honey de-
manded to see the manuscript i'm
mediately, he brought it forth and
forgot to telephone Linda. When
he realized that Linda was wait
ing, he was sure that he could ex-
plain it to her.
A N exceedingly pretty frown APP
IA peared on her alabaster brow
as Honey pored over the pages of
Pete's play. She curled up in a
mound of pillows and assumed pose
81 as she perused page after page
and Pete smoked cigaret after Gig
aret, not daring to interrupt the
train of thought. If there were
any. There was.
But Petie"-how he hated to be
called Petie-"It isn't mel"
Pete didn't answer that. He still
hoped.
Its too marvellous, but it's not
for me. It's sophisticated"
1T is sophisticated" Pete agreed,
and smiled at her. But it's a new
kind of sophistication. Julie is
young and glamorous. She's deep.
She is you"
"Oh, darling!" Honey, the deep
one, rose from her pillows and
touched him lightly on the cheek.
you really do know me, don't
you?"
She ran her hand through her
curls. placed cigaret in an ivory
holder and glided across the room.
She looked like a woman who is
deeply troubled and must disclose
-