The Washington times. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1902-1939, 1923-05-18
SHE FELL FOR
A MARRIED
CHARMER.
By Lucy Lowell.


face down. in her room to-
day with the door closed
and locked and every dancing ray
of sunshine fast shut out.
There's a little wet, rolled-up
handkerchief beside her. A whole
series Of little wet, rolled-up
handkerchiefs, to tell the truth,
for many. many tears have fallen
in the hours she has been shut
away.
It's about man, you see. He
is charming-oh, ever so charm
ing! An older woman than this
girl might recognize this charm
as it concerns members OF the
feminine sex-for something just
a bit too good to be true.
It's like something deliberately
built up and cultivated and
rounded off and polished ill
mere isn't jar or an edge In the
whole arrangement. His low,
vibrant voice and the suggestion
of smiling admiration in his eyes
ana ms way of holding wrap
just a thought too long, quite as
If he loved it-oh, fascinating!
So of course it's no wonder that
very young women find him at
tractive and that older women
smile at him in spite of them
selves.
Well then, this little girl was
quite dazzled. She isn't twenty,
you see. And he managed to make
her Observation-Disclosures actually
speaking the words-that he was
most awfully unhappy"
For one thing, his wife didn't
understand him. Oh, yes, he Is
married-one Of those vague mar
riages where you never seem tc
meet his wife, and he never seems
to be at home, anyway.
So, according to the impression
he gave the little girl, he was
wretched and forlorn and the one
thing in the world that would
be likely to set him n his feet
and save him from the place he
was drifting toward-wherever
that might be-was such a COM
partnership and affection as the
girl might give him. Only she
could help-there was none other
in his life who offered the
slightest appeal!
Quite picture for a smooth
and-as I said-charmlng man to
paint for an impressionable bit Of
girl, now wasn't 1t?
She saw a wonderful mission
for herself. She became some
body of Importance in her own
eyes, needed desperately by one
in misfortune.
So she admired him and en-.
Outraged and babied and ac-
claimed him and believed, as he
stated, that she was quite the
only woman who held the slight
est interest for him.
She was criticized. too, you
may be sure. Some of her
friends went so far AS to caution
her. But she was "above" criti-
cism, and she saw caution as an
evidence of the terrible misun-
derstanding that made his way
SO hard.
And one day she found out the
truth. 1t wasn't so much that
his wife was a long-suffering and
neglected little woman who had
ill-temper from her husband.
What hurt her the most was the
half-dOZen or so other girls, some
of her own age and some older,
who likewise were pursuing The
high mission of Saving" him.
And among them was an &C
quaintanCe newer on his list than
herself
1t all is very sad, of course.
But she is a sensible youngster
and she'll stop weeping in a day
or so. And while she'll never
quite forget the hurt and humili.
alton, she will have learned
that there's something very de-
spicable about his sort, not the
least of which is that it's all too
common.
Copyright, 1923. by .KinE FeA.
lures Syndicate. NInc)