The New York herald., 1922-07-23
THF

mot at first make an alteration in
her plan of life. I'D rather have a
husband like that than a steam
yacht" she had thought, after meet
ing him. Bpt the thought was
coupled with her knowledge that
Lansing was a pauper, as paupers
go in the eyes of the people with
whom she passed her days, and that
he could not so much as think Of
marriage. Lansing was himself in
her class. He wrote a little. had a
tiny inheritance. and spent his con-
siderable leisure as the guest of rich
friends. To be sure, he did not ac-
cept gifts nor checks from them, as
Susy did. and he lived in a small
bare room in a lodging house; but
his life was made colorful, exciting
and amusing by invitations that took
him all over the world as the charm
ing companion of men and women
who had nothing he had, of imagina
ton. feeling and enthusiasm, but all
he did not have Of worldly luxury.
Susy and Nick might love each other
all they liked, but they certainly
could not marry.
However, they did love each other,
and suddenly Susy thinks of mag
nificent way out They will marry
on certain conditions:
why shouldn't they belong to
each other openly and honorably, if
for ever so short a time. and with
the definite understanding that
whenever either Of them got the
chance to do better he or she should
be Immediately released? The law of
their country facilitated such ex-
changes and society was beginning
to view them as indulgently as the
law. :"
Susy knew that the checks that
would come to them as wedding
gifts. the houses that would be Of
fered to them as honeymoon shelters,
the invitations of all sorts sure to
pour in would keep them going for
at least a year. If after that they
would have to part, at least the year
would have been their own! Love,
happiness, each others society.
What more could they ask?
They did it. At the moment the
book opens we find them in an ex-
quisite villa on Lake Como in the
first flush Of their joy. The villa has
been lent by a friend. and when they
leave it they are to go to a palace
in Venice. lent by another. From
there they have various possibilities
"a Scotch moor. house at Yer
sailles, an Adirondack camp-and
the checks had been all and more
than was hoped. The future shone
like star.
And then, from this moment of
their greatest bliss, Mrs. Wharton
carries them on steadily and logically
to the smash that is ahead.
For to Lansing the makeshifts and
subterfuges. the planning. the man
aging, the snatching at offered bene-
fits which are second nature to Susy,
are horrible. He grows more and
more uneasy. But at first there are
only slight jars. and the two love
each other so much that happiness
will not be denied. Also, Susy is
more than clever in keeping from
her husband the baser acts to which
she is driven. That he shall be
happy, content, safe to work and
free from anxieties. these are what
she wishes for him. and to get these
things she is willing to do what re-
volts her, used as she is to being
made a convenience of by those who
give her in return the luxury she
must have. and now demands more
insistently for Nick than even for
herself
Naturally the moment comes when
Nick is suddenly made aware of what
has been going on; SO shocked is he
by the revelation that he Immediately
leaves Susy and goes of like a mad
man. conscious only of one thing.
that ii is impossible for him to live
under the given conditions and that
the more he loves Susy the less he
can bear the situation.
1t is from this point that the story
begins to develop. For it is Mrs.
Wharton's intention to show that
cov,, bipr ac raaI 40 hie and &C