Evening star., 1925-09-13
By Margaret Culkin Banning
She Married Man Whose Wealth She Thought Was Unlimited

the girl said positively couldn't wear
! the dress under any other wrap"
She was lovely, but somehow it
seemed impossible for Dick to realize
it. He stood staring at her. his eyes
| measuring. She wasn't the girl he
had married, but undoubtedly she was
the woman who was married to him.
So alluring-so beautiful-but ne
couldn't keep that up.
THE telephone rang. and Cynthia
welcomed the diversion. She
spoke rapidly, then putting the re-
ceiver down, came over to Dick.
It's that Mrs. Holston. i told you
I'd met them. From Chicago. She
| says her husband wants us to join
| them for dinner mean she and her
| husband do. There's economy, Dick.
| 1t won't cost us anything
Il don't know them
They're nice, Dick. And they're
| staying right here. They live here
while they're in New York"
An obsequious waiter showed the
party of four to a very desirable table.
Mrs. Holston was badly shaped, thin
Of face and large of bust, and no doubt
which had obviously been worn before.
| and her face was lazy and shrewd.
Mr.. Holston had dieted better than his
wife. He carried his thin frame with
an imitation of youthful bearing, and
had made an art of immaculate dress
| ing. Dick found out that he had some
thing to do with shipping. He had
little opportunity to find out more. for
his wife was devoting herself to Mr..
Holston.
Mr.. Holston suggested they let him
telephone for his car and take them
for ride, coming back for the roof
| ''Follies." And so 1t was arranged.
Cynthia's eyes shone as she stepped
into the big limousine at the hotel en-
trance and they rolled away.
AS they were going to bed that night
Cynthia hesitated long before her mir
ror.
/ Dick, who would have preferred to
spend his sacred weeks alone with
! Cynthia, felt vaguely anxious to be-
stir himself to offer her society. He
| took her out to Pelham Manor, to the
| suburban home of a friend of his, who
had married the daughter of college
| president. The two young people were
! living in a small clapboard house. i'm
mensely proud of their furniture,
which was all early American and per-
! Sonally collected. But the high backed
maple fireside chairs and the hooked
rugs did not impress Cynthia. More
over, the baby cried distressingly all
! through the simple dinner, and the
maid who served il was awkward.
! Cynthia seemed to steer away from
| Dicks suggestions relative to seeing
people" after that. She had met a
lady called Mrs. Warren, who had a
most amazing shingle bob, and who
was apparently rich and unattached.
| Her passion was furniture and not
clothes, and she initiated Cynthia into
the terms of a perfect setting for each
personality" Cynthia began to con-
slider her home very seriously
Wouldn't it be better to buy our
furniture here, Dick? Some things
that are really unique and different
she said that night.
| "Oh. l don't think So said Dick.
Wen stay at mothers for a week or
two. and then she can help you. If
we are going to live in Cosmopolis we
ought 10 buy our stuff there Too
much trade goes out of town as 1T is.
Besides, we can do lot better"
| II suppose" said Cynthia AREN'T
Mr.. Holston's rooms here wonderful?
/ You know, he's had nearly all the no
tel furniture taken out and his own
put in. What do you suppose ii costs
him to live the way they do?"
TOO much" said Dick.
"Dick-you mustn't have small
ideas"
! But 1 haven't" Dick let the ex-
desperation creep to the surface. But
those rich people just aren't my kind.
I'm not in their class"
/. But you ought to have ambition
i enough to want to get there.
| You don't understand, Cynthia. /
/ don't think they're better than | am
/ They are different. They're spenders
i-foaters. II they were real people.
they wouldn't be living in a hotel.
! They'd have a home. / don't like their
standards at ALL
But they have everything. You
don't understand, Dick. A girl just
gets-well, you get so tempted when
you see ugly women with things like
Mrs. Holston."
| IT think she's by far the better of
the two, if you ask me"
| why, she isn't in his class. He's
so much a gentleman. l don't think
she really came from much
! THERE was no doubt that the Hol-
stons overshadowed the third week
of Dicks married life. They were al
ways giving invitations-at least Mr..
Holston was. though he sometimes put
/ them through his wife as If she were
a telephone exchange. He enjoyed
the youth and admiration of Cynthia
and in a slightly superior way tried
to dazzle her. And Cynthia was daz-
zled. to Dicks secret anger. He re-
minded her of economy, and she, in
submission to 1t, somehow showed
that she thought less of him for being
! forced to remind her of 1T. There
were other hours, other minutes-gay
! little breakfasts in bed with the table
| covered with ware that shone like
silver and gave the full illusion. Dick
! in his bathrobe and Cynthia still in
! dolent in bed and both of them de-
| liciously content and dependent on
| each others presence. There were
| occasional events when Dick had his
1 wife to himself and lured her out Tor
a walk and she made amused and
| shrewd little observations on every.
thing that they passed, as they hunted
| through side streets lined with queer
shops and looked on the shining Hud'
son from a bus top. Then would come
the quick clutch of avarice, as on the
night when they had been so radiant
| ly happy and were strolling back to
| their hotel, and Cynthia saw girl in
golden cloak step under an awning
T! from an automobile.
Look, Dick, the girl on the train
the one in gray. The same one"
! us it?''
"Where's she going? What's that
placer"
That's the Ritz
When Cynthia took off her hat in
their bedroom, she turned to Dick and
said:
Don't you think I'm better looking
than that girl we saw-the one on the
train?"
"a thousand times" answered Dick.