She's a marvel. No wonder Stanton is crazy about her."
Stafford shrugged his shoulders.
"Cosmetics and a clever hairdresser can work miracles," he said dryly.
"She's a wonder, just the same--especially when you consider the life
she's led. You know her history--a morphine fiend with the face of an
angel. She knocked about for years before Stanton fell into her
clutches. He's dippy about her--pays for that apartment and gives her
a handsome allowance, bought her an automobile, pays her chauffeur,
and all the rest of it. Did you notice that string of pearls she was
wearing? It cost him a cool $10,000 in Paris last summer."
"Why doesn't he marry her, if he's got it as bad as all that?"
Hadley looked at his friend in amazement.
"You're not in earnest, are you?" he demanded. "Marry a woman of that
kind?"
"Why not?" answered Stafford doggedly. "If the man thinks enough of
her to waste so much time and money upon her let him try and reform
her by throwing around her a cloak of respectability. Why is the woman
what she is? Because pleasure-loving blackguards of Stanton's type
have degraded her and made it impossible for her to hold up her head
again among decent people."
Hadley laughed outright.
"Say, old man," he exclaimed, "it's easy to see you are out of sorts
this morning. When did Bob Stafford start in to be a social reformer?
Who ever expected such advice from the man who could always get away
with more booze at a sitting than any man I ever knew, and who has
been the hero of a hundred _affaires de coeur_, not all as
respectable as that of Stanton and Maude?"
The railroad man took it good-naturedly.
Pages:
32
33
34
35
36
37
38
39
40
41
42
43
44
45
46
47
48
49
50
51
52
53
54
55
56