The Washington times. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1902-1939, 1923-12-21

hour with her in the afternoon
when she was alone. He rebelled
less than he had expected. If he
could not have her wholly, the
less of her the better.
Dinners, luncheonE, theater par
ties, receptions, were being given
for her not only by her old friends
who seemed to her to grow more
numerous daily-but by their
daughters and by many others
who made up for lack of tradi-
ton by that admirable sense OF
rightness which makes fashionable
society in America such a waste
Of efficiency and force. And
whether, the younger women pri-
vately hated her or had fallen
victims to that famous charm
was of little public consequence.
It was as If she had appeared in
their midst, waved scepter and
announced: IT am the fashion.
Always have I Eeen the fashion.
That is my meter. Bow down."
At all events the fashion she be-
came, and it WAS quite as patent
that she took it as a matter Of
course. The radiant happiness
that possessed her., refusing as
she did to look into the future
with it's menace &c those high
duties of her former dedication
clear, sharp, ruthless children Of
her brain-not only EXCHANGED
both her beauty and magnetism,
but enabled her endure this So
cial ordeal she had dreaded, with
out ennui. She was too happy
to be bored. She even plunged
into it with youthful relish. For
the first time in her life she was
at peace with herself. She was
not at peace when CIavering made
love to her, fai. from it; but she
enjoyed with all the Zest Of a
woman with her first lover, and
something of the timidity, this tan
talizing preliminary to fruition.
How could she ever have believed
that her mind was old? She
turned her imagination away from
that lodge in the Dolomites, and
believed it was because the pre-
sent with it's happiness and its
excitenents sufficed her.
Publicity
Moreover, she was having one
novel experience that afforded her
much diversion. The newspapers
were full of her. It took exactly
five days after Mrs. Oglethorpe's
luncheon for the story she had
told there to filter down to Park
Row. and although she would not
consent to be interviewed, there
were double-page stories IN the
SUNDAY issues, embellished with
SNAPSHOTS and a photograph OF
the Mary Ogden of the SOS; a
photographer who had had the
honor to take her was still
in existence and exhumed the
plates.
Doctors, biologists, endocrlnol-
ogists were interviewed. '-lvlI
war threatened; the medical ira
ternity, upheld by a few doubt
ing Thomases among the more
abstract followers Of the sci
ence, on one side Of the field,
by far the greater number of
those who peer into the human
mechanism with mere scientific
acun1en on the other. Doctors,
VIGOROUSLY as conservative as
kings and as jealous as opera
singers, found themselves threat
ened with the loss Of elderly
patients whose steady degenera-
ton was a source of respectable
income. When it was discov-
cred that New York actually
held a practicing physician who
had studied with the great endo-
crinologists of Vienna, the street
in front Of his house looked
as If some ambitious hostess
were holding continual re-
ception.
Finally Madame Zattiany con
Scented to give brief state.
ment to the press through her
lawyers. 1t was as impersonal
as water, but technical enough
to satisfy the Medical Journal.
At the theater and opera peo-
pie waited in solid phalanXes
to see her pass. Her utter i'm
mobility on these occasions but
heightened the feverish interest.
Women OF thirty, dreaming of
becoming flappers overnight, and
formidable rivals, with the subtle
ty Of experience behind the mask
Of seventeen, were desolated to
learn that they must submit to
the claws and teeth of Time
until they had reached the last
mile-post of their maturity. Beau
ty doctors CRASHED their teeth,
and plastic surgeons looked for
ward to the day when they
must play upon some other form
of human credulity. AS a sub
ject for the press it rivalled