WOMAN'S WORLD

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LII, Issue 381, 5 May 1910, Page 6

WOMAN'S WORLD

A SHORT STORY. A WOMAN'S LOVE. Of course it was foolish. But she was so young and pretty and he begged her so tenderly to say yes. In spite of all that had been said of her wonderful voice. and of her brilliant future, she gave it all up and promised to be his wife. "You foolish child," her teacher had said angrily, "you 'have thrown away your chances .for nothing.'' "Nothing?" Therese pouted. Arnold Tailored was a lawyer, just admitted to the Bar. and although he had no clients yet they would surely come, for he himself had told her that lie was very smart. And while cvory.'io-dv called her action a foolish sacrilice, Therese Maguay looked tenderly at the ring lie | had .given her and dreamed of the happiness that was to come;.. lint the clients did not come as expected, and one day Arnold thought it would be much easier to make money by marrying a rich girl, and eighteen months after Therese had been so delighted with the diamond ring, she took it oil' her linger with a sigh. Arnold Tancred had broken off the engagement. "You are really the handsomest Man T ever saw." > ''Oh, now you flatter me, Marguerite." "No, Arnold. I really mean it. and when 1 look at you I easily understand that the little singer fell in love with you." • "ph, do not try to play the innocent. Ever since we first met I have been interested in you and tried to find out everything- about you. Was she really so miserable when you broke tue engagement?" ''Well, since you seem to know it all, she was not miserable or unhappy. I was a fool who did not know .what he was doing when I proposed to her. She took up her singing again soon afterwards, I believe." "Oh, that was all? I have been told it was a very serious affair, and that it nearly broke lier heart. I hope you do not ,pine for her in secret yet?" Arnold laughed and showed his beautiful white teeth to their best advantage.

"Pine for her in secret! Oh. no—and if T did long for her a little you have made me forget it long ago. You may think I ilm dazzled by your wealth, 'but, oh. Marguerite. I love you, love you as no man ever loved ,a woman before. I know how far above me you are, but—l love you." Marguerite Mollet, widow of a wealthy was not so imexperieneed that these words made her heart beat faster, but they pleased'her, nevertheless. "Arnold, dear," she said tenderly, "you would like to look at life through a rich man's spectacles?" "Yes—together with you, dear." "Well, then, let us marry and enjoy life together." An ! Arnold did look at life through a rich man's glasses' so thoroughly that before long one would have needed a. miscroscope to discover the rich man's fortune. "Is Mure de Carre at home?" "Yes, sir." "Will you kindly tell her that a representative of the Herald desires to speak to her?" I-t was an evening a few years later that a rather poorly-dressed man rang the bell of the elegant mansion where the famous diva lived.

"A reporter who wants to interview inc. 1 suppose," said Mure de Carre, as the servant announced the visitor. ■'Show him into the little salon, please, Jacques." Tlh> reporter was- admiring the costly furniture and paintings of the salon when Mure de Carre entered. She went towards him, but suddenly stopped. '■' Arnold Tanered!" "Therese Maguay!" For a moment they looked at each other, too astonished to speak. "Therese Maguay—are von really Mure de Carre? Have you really realised your dreams of fame and glory?" "Yes, Arnold Tanered, I am Mure de Carre. And you—how are you!" "Oh, I suppose you can imagine mv fate?" "Yes, I think so. You left me after I -had sacrificed everything for your sake. You left me for money—you got it and squandered it." Arnold Tanered bowe(J his head. "You are right—l squandered it. My wife is dead, and now I have to work like a slave night and day to make a living." As she looked at his thin, emaciated face her eyes filled with tears. In spite of all she had suffered, she had forgiven him long ago. But his presence called back all the bitter memories of the past, and she exclaimed: "You must go. This meeting is too painful for both of us. What can I do for vou?" "Nothing." lie said, but added hurriedly: "Yesi give ,me your signature. I can write the interview myself, anil if we can print your signature in the paper they will pay-us a little more."

'"You shall have it. But what do you intend to do? You cannot go on living i in this way." 1 ; "No, you are right; I can't. lam ! saving u]) a little and when I have • enough I am going far away to America j to life anew." i "But it will be a long time before vou I pan save up enough from what you are j making now." "Yes, a thousand francs is a lot of I money to a reporter oil a small psper, '< but " '"Well." she said, interrupting- him. "if my signature can be of anv help to you, you shall certainly have it." "Thank vou."

She went to her deck and wrote hur-1 riedly on a slip of paper she had taken from a drawer, folded it and hamlcd it to him. : "There it is—and now do go." | Silent and downcast he went. She opened the door to him and said in a| voice so soft that if sounded ;!ke a prayer to him: "Oood-bye, and may my name bring you luck." When he came to a lamp-post he opened the paper she had given him. It was a cheque signed "Therese de Carre," and above the signature 'T'ay to Arnold Tancred or order five thousand francs." —lngeborg Benson. WOMAN 6oo ( ooo YEARS AGO HISTORY READ FROM A SKULL. ' SCIENTIST'S THEORIES. 11l the Museum of the Royal College of Surgeons lies a famous skull. Discovered ut Gibralter many years ago, it has been agreed to be that of a human being of prehistoric times. Many scientists have examined it: many theories regarding the owner of it have been propounded. For some years past, armed with a new system of intricate measurements and with all the resources of modern science at its iiack, Professor A. Keith, curator of the museum, has been trying to life the veil from the past. He has compared the skull minutely with those of the people of all nations to-day, and has set it side by side with all other valuable prehistoric retics.

In an interview with a Daily Mail reporter, discarding technicalities,- Professor Keith spoice of his conclusions. ''The skull, I have little doubt, is that of a woman,'' he said. "From the size of her brain she must have been shrewd —probably a woman, too, of considerable spirit. One cai. reckon pretty accurately, also, tile time at whieli she lived. It must have been at least 600,000 years ago. "From the jaws and the fact that the muscles of mastication were remarkably strong, it is possible to aediice what tliis prehistoric woman ate. Nuts and roots probably entered very largely into her diet. She was in the habit of eating tilings which required a great amount of mastication before much nourishment could be derived from them—hence the unusual development of the jaw muscles. "The men 600,000 years ago were, without doubt, long armed. Their le?s were short. They had abnormally strong, thick necks. It is clear, too, that they were able 'to speak to each other. From my examination of the 'brain cavity of the skull I have been able to deduce quite dearly that the cells controlling speech were there. "This w oman lived at a period before houses were thought of. Some sort of rude shelter must 'have been her abode. And the men of this far distant age must liave spent most of their time roaming about in mobs. Probably they were hunters. And [ should say that they fished, too.

"The prehistoric woman's skull indicates that she hail n very large nose. Her eyes. too. must have been prominent. Her palate was one-third larger than that of the woman of to-day." ENGLISH SOCIETY AS I HAVE KNOWN IT. (Bv an American hostess in London). Part I. BORROWING AMONG THE "SMART SET." There are manv .people who get through the London season year after year by systematically borrowing what they cannot afford to pay for. You may often see in the papers some such notice as " has let his house in to for the season." In many instances this notice simply means that the owner of the house, who may be a wealthy peer or banker, not requiring the house himself, has yielded to the solicitations of an impecunious friend or relative and let his house instead of letting it. When it is borne in mind that the rent of a well-furnished house or flat in Belgravift or Mayfair for the London season runs from £101) to £SOO per month, it will be seen that such a loan is in reality a substantial gift. A lady, whose daughter was one of the prettiest debutantes of 1007,vand who has since, by the iwav, married a wealthy countryman of my own, told me herself that she managed to get through the London season when chaperoning her daughter for a really trifling sum.

She was one of the most persistent borrowers in society; she borrowed a furnished flat every season: she borrowed servants, carriages, motor cars, horses, and even jewellery. She also acquirei,! a box at the opera regularly by the same expedient. A COOL REQUEST. Subscribers to the opera, by the way, are annually bombarded by requests for the loan of their box by their friends, or often by the merest acquaintances. A regular subscriber, whose wife is a great friend of mine, has sometimes had as. many as twenty requests for his box for one night and rarely has less than lialf la dozen throughout the season. One lady whom he jnet for the first time at a dinner .party telephoned to ask him for the loan of his box a cou"le of days later. He demurred at granting such a cool request, when the lady calmly observed: "Oh, I don't want the iwhole box; I can let vou have a seat in it."

A hostess who nossesses a good ballroom in her London house is constantly asked by her friends to let them give a ball at her house. More than one instance has come tn nw knowledge of ladies who have lent their houses for such a purpose having to pay the expenses of the ball subsequently. ETHICS OF BORROWING. There is one very notorious borrower ill society who. however, happens to be a. very sweet and charming lady and extremely popular. I was at a "dinner party one nitrht at which she was preIP

sent, and someone started a discussion mi the ethics of borrowing; the lady in question. being asked her opinion, remarked in the most delightfully ingenuous manner: "Oh, 1 think 1 would borrow anything in the world except money," and she spoke the truth, for 1 know she would have thought it a very discreditable thing to borrow money, even from her most intimate and wealthiest friends. |

There are numbers of people in society who maintain their establishments. not by borrowing, but simply by gifts from their 'wealthy relatives. wealthy banker I know maintained his sister-in-law and her family in considerable style for several years. The ladv in question married a Mr. C.. r a countrv gentleman with a large, but impoverished, landed estate. Their ! income was certainly not more than a thousand a year. They had several children, and when their family began to grow up they became a somewhat considerable burden to their wealthy relative. He paid for the education of two boys at Eton, but that was a mere drop in the ocean. The t.'.'s, when their eldest daughter came out. rented a furnished Hat in Belgravia for the season and kept a brougham, and # pair of horses, a park hack for the daughter, and a motor car was also found to be necessary after a short while, and they entertained a great deal, especially at restaurants. The banker for two years allowed hi* sister-in-law £SOOO a year when, much to his satisfaction. Miss C. married a wealthy merchant she had met at her aunt's house, upon whose shoulders the banker promptly shifted the burden of maintaining the C. family; the merchant. I believe, bears it cheerfully, for he is devoted to lii§ wife, HE DREW THE LINE. The banker's wife was a great friend of mine, and told me a rather amusing story of a relative who came for financial aid. Tilis lady kept up a very considerable London establishment, an expense which after some years became rather more than her purse could stand. She did not wish to curtail her expenses, and went to the banker to see if lie would help her. S'lie saw him in his office in the city; he listened to Jier tale of woe attentively, and then produced a ledger from a private drawer, which he opened and consulted carefully. "No, Clara," he said, "I can't do anything for you. I have six first cousins, tvvo aunts, and a piece on my books already. I must draw the line somewhere, and I draw it at second cousins." PROFESSIONAL CHAPERONING.

Apart from loans or gifts, there are other methods of obtaining money resorted to by many persons in society. There is a baronet and his wife in the very best -society whose source of income for some years- was a decided puzzle to their friends. It was a known fact that the baronet had lost all his money in some venture in .South America, but he still continued to maintain his London and large country houses in as good a way as ever.. The secret of his resources at last became known to his friends; indeed, it .was so obvious that it could not have been concealed from them for long. His wife, Ladv S., undertook to in troduce girls of wealthy parents into society, and had a most happy success in her role of professional ehnperone. .she was able to picic and choose from th" dausrht ers of very wealth" nianuf:- • turers. who were quite, • , .vil!in<r to the lady's price for tli'e social advantages she could afford their daughters. Her proteges were all great social successes: her first married a coronet during her second season, and mane others made ex'tremely good matches. The remarkable tiling about Lady S. was that she was .able to do all tW* without losing one jot or tittle o. her social prestige. There are some -people in society who depend upon even more hazardous methods for getting money to maintain their position. They are gamblers and simple.—London M.A.P.

THE MAGYAR BLOUSE INSTAXT SUCCESS" OF A XEW FASHION. The Magyar blouse (says a London paper) lias taken the affections of women by storm, and is rapidly rising to universal popularity. It is a sheath-like garment, fastened at the back. Cut with 'the sleeves and the rest of the blouse in one. it hears an appearance of simplicity that is quite icpnvincing to the male mind. But 'the feminine critic, aware that appearances are deceitful, knows that the novelty demands skilful treatment to inalce it a real success. It is another contribution to. the "little girl" models in which the dressmakers are delighting this spring, ami like the short skirt and attenuated jacket, bears a nursery-like air of juvenility and suggests the requirements of a smail damsel of seven instead of those of her mother, for xvhom,it is intended. There must be no collar of the okl upstanding pattern upon the primitive Magyar blouse, but instead a childish overturned frill of softest' unstarched muslin, needle-run net, or delicate lace of an antique appearance. At first the blouses were made of silk erepou and the once more highly approved shantung, but brown" holland (essentially a nursery fabric) and pique as suitable materials were soon suggested for warmer weather wear. Another characteristic of the Magyar corsage, in its earlier stage, was a complete absence of trimming, but the latest productions have a little light embroidery below the chin, or a small injiertion of very precious lace, in lieu <>f "pierrot" frill. Since the success attained bv the .•'pneumonia" blouse, no pattern has suddenly come into such instant popularity as the Magyar.