The St. Mary banner. (Franklin, Parish of St. Mary, La.) 1889-1931, 1907-01-05
THB Man WHO UNDERSTOOD WOMEN.
Rv LEONARD MERRICk.

Nothing had delighted him SO much
when his first book appeared as some
reviewers reference to tine au'noT
knowledge Of women" WendoVer wa"
then six or systematically, ana inc
compliment uplifted him the more DC
cause he had long regretted yioientiy
that he knew even less or women 'nan
do most young men. He yearnsd 10
cap,iyate chem. to pass lightly from
one love affair TO another. to nave lhe
RICH, to call himself "blase.' Alas. .
lew dances in the small provincial lo"h
that he left when he was eighteen Aao
CON prised nearly all his sentimental
experiences; during his years OF strus
ne in London he had been SO abomih-
ably hard up that lodging house keep
ers and barmaids were almost the Oh
" women he addressed. ana as MS
beverage was q glass of bitter inc
harmaids had been strictly CONNER
eial
To he told that he understood WON
On enraptured him. Instinct. ne
said. to himself. Nov and then man
Is born who knows the feminine nina
fntuitively." And in his next book
there was an abundance of his fanci1ul
psychology. Denied companionsnip
With women, he reveilcd in writing
about them, and drew from the pages
In which he posed as their delineator
something Of the exultatim that ne
would have derived from Icing their
eoyer. There were even pages after
which he felt stated with conquest. AT
these times nothing accorded with his
mood 50 we'll as to parade the PARK
and pretend to himself that the Sleht
OF the most attractive Of the women
Bored him.
But as loneliness really cried with
On him pathetically, he had an adven-
eure, eliminating in marriage with
Z shop assistant who glanced at him
one evening in Oxford street. After
marriage they found as little Of an
agreeable nature to say to each other
Is might have been expected. SO
couple of years later they separated.
and the ex-shop hand went to reside
with a widowed sister. who made up
iadies' own materials" at Crouch
Ead.
Gradually he came to be accepted at
his own valuation. to be pronounced
one OF the few gifted men from whom
the feminine soul held no secrets.
Then. when he was close on forty.
D novel that he published hit the pop
0lar taste, and he began to make
gerry respectable income.
Now. for the FIRST time. he had OPP
Dortunities for meeting the class Of
women that he had been writing about.
and he found to his CONSERVATION. that
they failed to recognize him a. an
amnity after all. They were very
emiable but, like the farmer with
the claret, they never got any for
0ader." He perceived that his profun-
lities we're thought tedious. and that
his attentions were thought raw. 1t
vas 4 sickening admission for an au-
ehority On women to make. but when
he tried to flirt he felt-shy.
At last he decided that all the women
be knew-were too frivolous to appeal
company wearied him unutterably.
But observe that be had never yet
seen really In love.
In the autumn Of his forty second
Hear-you wouldn't have judged him
% b 90 much-he removed to Paris.
Some months afterw ard, in the inter-
osts of q novel that he had begun. he
deserted his hotel in the Rue d'Antin
lcr Z pension on the left bank The
establishment. which was supported
chiefly BY English and American girls
studying art, supplied the color" that
be needed for his earlier chapters,
and it was here that he made the
acquaintance Of Miss Searle.
Miss Searle was about six-and-twen-
q, Bohemian and ambitious beyond
Der talents. Such pensions abound In
Rirls who are moro or less Bohemian.
end ambitious beyond their talents.
but Rhoda Searle was noteworthy
Der face stirred the imagination. she
bad realized that she would never paint
oaA the free and easy Intercourse OF
de quarter had wholly unified her
Cor the prim provincialism to which
0he must return In England.
my father was q parson." she told
Wendover once. Is they smoked cigar
sites together after dinner. Il had
hard work to convince him that Eng
oish art schools weren't the best. but
be gave In At last and let me come
here. Il was Paradise! My home was
n Breckenhampton. Do you know it!
It's one q the dreariest holes in the
dAgdom. I used to 60 over to stay