The Washington herald., 1922-08-30
FEATURES, FICTION
The Beautiful
:: =. And Damned
BY r. Scott Fitzgerald.

ne ledneu IOTWdfu hufAhcuiy anu
tapped at the glass. The taxi was
only at Brooklyn Bridge. but the
meter showed $3.50. and Anthony
would never have omitted the 10
per cent tip.
Later In the afternoon he re-
turned to the apartment. Gloria
had also been out-shopping-an
xas asleep. curled In a corner of
the sofa with her purchase locked
securely in her arms. Her face was
as untroubled as a little girls, and
the bundle that she pressed tightly
to her bosom was a child's doll, IA
profound and Infinitely healing balm
to her disturbed and childish heart.
,s-ss-- Destiny.
It was with this party, more cs-
pecially with Gloria's part in IT,
that a decided change began to
come over their way of living. The
magnificent attitude of not giving a
damn altered overnight; from being
a mere tenet of Gloria's IT became
the entire solace and justification
for what they chose to do and what
consequence 1t brought. Not to be
sorry, not to loose one cry of re-
gret, to live according to q clear
code of honor toward each other.
and to seek the moments happiness
as fervently and persistently as
possible.
NO one cares about us but our
selves, Anthony" she said one day
It'd be ridiculous for me to go
about pretending I felt any obliga-
tions toward the world, and as for
worrying what people think about
me. / simply don't, that's all. Since
I was a little girl in dancing school
I've been criticised by the mothers
of all the little girls who weren't
as popular as l was. and I've al
ways looked on criticism as a sort
of envious tribute"
This was because Of a party in
the "Bul Mich" one night, where
Constance Merriam had seen her as
one of a highly stimulated party of
four. Constance Merriam. "as an
old school friend" had gone to the
trouble of inviting her to lunch next
day In order to inform her how ter
rible II was.
II told her couldn't see It,"
Gloria told Anthony. Eric Mer-
Ram Is sort of sublimated Percy
wolcott-you remember that man
in Hot Springs I told you about
his idea of respecting Constance is
to leave her at home with her
sewing and her baby and her book.
and such innocuous amusements.
whenever he's going on a party
that promises to be anything but
deathly dull"
Did you tell her that?"
Il certainly did. And I told her
that what she really objected to
was that was having a better
time than she was"
Anthony applauded her. He was
tremendously proud of Gloria.
proud that she never failed to
eclipse whatever other women
might be in the party. proud that
men were always glad to revel
with her In great rowdy groups,
without any attempt to do more
than enjoy her beauty and the
warmth of her vitality.
These parties" gradually became
their chief source Of entertainment.
Still IN love. still enormously inter-
ested In each other. they yet found
as spring drew near that stating
at home in the evening palIed on
them: books were unreal: the old
magic OF being alone had long since
vanished-instead they preferred to
he bored by stupid musical COM
edy. or to 60 to dinner with the
most uninteresting of their ac-
quaintances. so long as there would
he enough cocktails to keep the
conversation from becoming utterly
intolerable. A scattering of young
er married people who had been
their friends in school or college,
as well as a varied assortment of sin
gle men. began to think instinctively
OF them whenever color and excite
ment were needed. so there was
scarcely a day without its phone
call. its Wondered what you were
doing this evening" Wives, as
rule. were afraid of Gloria-her
faciie attainment of the center of
the stage. her innocent but never
theiess disturbing way of becom-
ing a favorite with husbands
these things drove them instinct
ively into an attitude of profound
distrust. heightened by the fact
that Gloria was largely unrespon-
sive to any intimacy shown her by
a woman.
On the appointed wednesda in
February Anthony had gone to the
imposing offices of Wilson, Hiemer
and Hardy and listened to many
vasue instructions delivered by an
energetic young man of about his
own age, named Kahler. who wore
a defiant yellow pompadour. and in
announcing himself as an assistant
secretary gave the impression that
II was tribute to exceptional
ability.
There's two kinds Of men here,
you'll fnd." he said There's then
man who gets to be an assistant
secretary or treasurer. gets his
name on ou- folder here before he's
SO, and there's the man who gets
his name there at IS. The man
VINO gets his name there at as stays
the rest of his life"
How about the man who gets II
there at 3o?" inquired Anthony po-
litely.
Why. he gets up here. You see"
He pointed to a list of a.sistan,
vice presidents upon the folder.
Or maybe he gets to be president
or secretary or treasurer"
And what about these over
here?'
Those? oh. those are the trus-
,eesEthe men with capital"
Il see"
Vow some people," continued
kahier. think that whether a
rsr gets started early or late de-
spends on whether he's 1nt a cnIIaza