Page:Frank Owen - Woman Without Love (1949 reprint).djvu/91

 began to show. Only the rare loveliness of her eyes remained undimmed.

Much of life had she seen. Her education was colossal. She knew humanity because she knew men, knew them at their best and at their worst. Frequently she became morose and melancholy. She had beheld life in the raw and it was an ugly sight. She had no illusions left. She was hard, bitter at times. But frequently she was most sympathetic.

She was in the habit of visiting children's hospitals in all the towns at which she stopped, Nashville, Wheeling, Louisville. It was a form of diversion. It cheered her up. If these kids who had nothing, who were sick and frail, could smile, then what cause had she to complain?

Sometimes she reflected that only wickedness is rewarded. Nero was remembered for his cruelties, but could anyone mention five contemporary emperors who were known for their mercies? The average man and woman was far more interested in torture and crime than in religious education. Newspapers featured atrocities, torch murders, ax murders, murders in a thousand pleasant forms. They were set up in startling headlines. No religious enterprise was granted such publicity. She believed herself living in an age of decadence, of sham and hypocrisy. Church-going was merely a gesture, something to be got over as quickly as possible.

Such was the grim philosophy of Louella Leota. Yet she went to church almost every Sunday. It was a habit with her, like taking snuff. She had started taking snuff because a detective friend had declared it was good for a head cold. It was. The cold improved. She nearly died from it. But eventually it grew tired and departed. She never recovered from the snuff. For the rest of her life she used it.

Louella liked to arrive at church late, while the services were in progress. Then like a great lady, elaborately dressed, she would sweep down the aisle, causing such a commotion that she even disconcerted the minister. But when the collection plate was passed around and she dropped a ten dollar bill into it, his wrath was somewhat appeased. That ten dollars which Louella