Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1930-11-23

"HE story OF the simeses was in many
respects the usual one of q man hav-
ing gone on in worldliness and social
achievement quite beyond the wife,
who had stood still after marriage.
Is the saying goes.
Again, the story of the Simeses was quite
unusual in this respect-Frank Shines had
gone on in q manner rs unusual as il was
startling. At 81, the young clerk in a second
rate publishing house. while of on two weeks
holiday at an obscure seaside resort with his
wife, had filled In his spare time writing q de.
scripticn Of the life about him.
At IL. that same nearSighted, not highly per.
sonable, young man had developed into one Of
the most successful literary men Of his time.
At 81, he a world-figlre the center of a
school Of disciples who were content to bask
on the rim of his reflected glory. and his fine
country place was the mecca for pilgrims who
were not content to return to their native
heathS without being able to say that they had
&c least gilmpsed the retreat of the great god
Shines
GharabanSs and various sightseeing excur-
ddralong the state highway which bordered
one end of the Shines estate, pointed out with
pride the country home Of the renowned author
While still comparatively young man, Shines
had become sort of shrine. The achieve
ment OF this, secuted In the small world OF
Sophisticates as the antics Of q literary charla-
tan, was none the less one to imp ess a vast pub
lie. It could also be said that 1t probably inn
layman
MORE and more. as they grew older together.
Mary was to ask herself this question con-
ceruing Shines How? How had he accom-
plished the almost incredible? She Mary, better
than any one else In the world, sycophants who
crowded around him, enemies who jeered, knew
the caliber of the man Shines. Knew the relent-
less ego Of him, which flung cut In all directions
0f ctr
Cling where It could. Knew the strangely
feeble equipment Of this man, whose pen some
how. someway. had loaded into its point per-
suasiOn and personality. Everything about this
man, her husband, she knew. and, knowing
maryeled. How had he achieved his almost
unique position IN the world Of letters?
There were. OF course. people who said his
somewhat plain wife was the power behind the
throne. but then that Is said practically Of
every public man with q plain wife,
Thefe were also those who marveIed at the
consistency OF Shines, 80 strangely attractive to
women in what might be called repelIent
way. They seemed to read In the eyes Of Shines
strange eyes set one slightly higher than the
otleF. decadent forbidden things that wrapped
his personality with the half-evil lure of the
genii
Shines, in q curious inverted manner had q
way with women just as I'm q curious inverted
manner he must have had q way with his vast
public
It was not this rather oblique lure which sur
prtsed Mary; she must have capitulated to it
herself, In the days when he was q humble
CLERK. It was the stability Of his success which
never ceased to amaze and secretly to appall
her.
How did Shines, specifically educated super-
dcially informed, specifically the thinker, the
student, the man of letters, hold with a strange
grip the interest fascination and admiration of
his public?
Sometimes, in her loneliness and heart-hurt.
passionately she admitted to herself that She
Mary. the wife whom to all intents and pgr-
poses he had outgrown. was the answer. She,
public; the creator Of the Illusions about him;
the weaver Of legends and the hand at the
helm OF his phantom ship OF literary illusion.
For years and years she had granted his
interviews, stood by in public while the crowds
gWfried about him, smile Of strange wisdom
on her lips. 1ut always equipped to describe to
the overfo~ Of his adulaters giamorous tales OF
Gpe great mans greatness
Then again Mary told herself trying to
ferret the secret of his undiminishing luster.
no one person alone could account for it. Not
even the years Of her secret sacrifices, her hui
Mutations, her pretenses and her display of adj
niration where he was concerned were sufficient
to solve the riddle
SOMEWHERE in the makeup Of Shines must
- reside real greatness. The fact that she.
Mary Shines, had alone built I'D the Illusion Of
II reat man seemed almost too fantastic 10
be true
There was one man knew It to be true.
Johann Brody. Ten years after her marriage
TO Shines. Mary and Brody had met, drifting