Such a Jolly
Outing He Was "
, Having at ,
the Famous %
Seashore
When the
Former Mrs. Hewitt Un
expectedly Appeared
on the Scene—and
Now They Are Parted S
Forever
*
The former Mr*. Peter
Cooper Hewitt on the beach
at Deauville and as ahe may
have looked on the very
morning when she is said to
have surprised Baron d’Er
langer and confirmed the
disturbing rumors which had
brought her from Paris
t
m
IV .*oe*vait>
Wf £. u*t>en*'ooa
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Baroness d’Erlanger, with her son
by her first hufcband, and (on the
left) the titled fourth husband she
is now leering
PARIS.
PEASURE at Deauville, the Kiddy
seashore resort in Normandy, is
y/iuvauiv pnwa more exp*m
sively than anywhere elae on earth,
and no one knew this better than
the Bar«i d’Erlanjer when he set
out for "Klngr” Cornuche’s merry
reaim a Tew weeks ago
to enjoy a little vaca
tion all by hfmself.
As a man of thej|
world, a conspicuous
figure in the gay night
life of !,on4on, Paris
and other European
apitals, he understood
perfectly well that he
would be charged the
most exorbitant price
for rooms and meal*,
for wines and smiles M
and for all the other ^
comforts and luxuries J
he might think neces- ^
sary to make his little
ding at summer life
enjoyable.
And if he should play
for some of the high
stakes that had become the rule at
the gambling casino and Lady Luck
should refuse to smile on his efforts,
why, then the total cost of even a brief
stay at Deauville might be enough to
drive a millionaire to the verge of bank
ruptcy.
But why should the baron worry over
such sordid matters as these? Had he
not recently become the husband of the
former Mrs. Peter Cooper Hewit, the
once widowed and twice divorced Ameri
can woman? And was not her pocket
book overflowing with the millions she
had accumulated from her three former
husbands?
Of course! So the baron, murmuring
the French equivalent of “Hang the ex
pense!’’ set blithely out for Deauville,
bent on having such a vacation as only
a pleasure-loving man can have when he
has a wife who is generous with her mil
lions. •
But now Baron d’Erlanger is said to
wish from the bottom of his heart that
he had never been tempted into playing
the role of a summer widower.
For he seems doomed to have to pay
for his ten days or so at Deauville a
more staggering price than he ever
dreamed. It promises to cost him his
wife—the wife who supplied the money
for his recent flirtation with the sea
shore's alluring pleasures and who might
have, if he had only been a little more
discreet, kept right on supplying the cash
for many more similar flirtations.
It is a sad story, according to the de
tails the gossips of Paris are supplying,
and one calculated to bring tears to the
eyes of everybody who thinks that the
hero of a millionaire widow's fourth
marriage should be entitled to a little
more liberty than the husband of some
young debutante.
Baroness d’Erlanger was forced to
remain in Paris during those sweltering
August weeks to attend to certain bother
some details of the tight she is waging to
secure for her little daughter. Ann. the
-hare «he thinks the girl should have of
her father, the late Mr. Hewitt’s, estate.
But the baroness was quite unselfish.
Just because her duty to her daughter
made it necessary for her to swelter in
Paris she did not think her hu«band had
any need to. So she is said to have g!ad
A via** of the famous bathing beach at Deauville which poor Baron
d'Erlanger probably wishes he had never seen
ly consented to his trip alone to Deau
ville.
He had not been gone many days be
fore disturbing rumors began to reacf.
her ears over the gossip wireless that
maintains such an efficient service be
tween the sands of Deauville and the
i'aris boulevards.
At first she was incredulons. then
curious, and finally as angry as a woman
can be when she suspects herself of being
deceived by the sharer of her heart' and
purse. She took the first train for Deau
_ ville without any word to her husband
that she was coming.
It was in the morning she arrived
and by the time she had breakfasted and
refreshed herself from her journey it
was the hour when everybody who has
survived the dissipation of the “night
before" is on the beach, gaining strength
for another night of wining and dining,
dancing iind gambling.
To the beach the former Mrs. Hewitt
went, and there, almost with the first
sweep of her.keen glance over the golden
sands, she is said to have seen something
which went a long way toward confirm
ing the stories which had reached her in
Paris.
It is said there was a stormy scene in
the restaurant of the Hotel Normandy
at the luncheon hour and that same eve
ning the millionaire widow and her noble
fourth husband returned to Paris—but
in quite separate compartments of the
train de luxe.
A few days later Paris and London
were surprised to hear that the former
Mrs. Hewitt and Baron d’Erlanger were
definitely through with living together
and that she was bringing suit for di
vorce in the French courts.
Now everybody is wondering what it
could have been which she is said to have
.een on the beach that morning and
which made her so suddenly decide that
she and this fourth husband of hers must
go their separate ways.
Whatever it was, the gossips here
think it must have been
something extremely disil
lusioning, for the former
Mrs. Hewitt is herself a
woman not at all averse to
a liberal measure of gayety
and she has always been
noted for the generous lati
tude she has allowed her
various husbands.
Can it be that poor Baron
d'Erlanger, intoxicated with
the bright sunlight of the
Deauville beach and the
beauty of the bathing girls
that sparkled so brightly in
it, momentarily forgot his
duty to the wife he had left
sweltering in Paris?
Unfortunate\y for the
curiosity of the gossips, they
are unlikely ever to know
just what it was that the
baroness saw, unless she her
self sees fit to reveal the se
cret. For the French courts,
as American divorce seekers
know to their satisfaction,
guard such spicy details as
these very possibly ara.
Baron d’Erlanger has gone
to London and it is reported
that he haa no intention of
fighting his rich wife’s suit
for divorce. This is taken
by many as a virtual admis
sion that he feels she had
'xcellent reasons for feeling
outruged over what she saw
when she stole so unexpect
edly into Deauville.
No matter how well juati
tied he thinks his wife’s ac
tion, Baron d’Erlanger can
hardly help feeling great re
giec ai Doing iorced to pay such a stag
gering price as this for his little outing
at the seashore. To lose a wife with ns
many millions as the former Mrs. Hewitt
is supposed to have tucked away in her
A typical Deauville
bathing beauty
pocketbook comes
close to making this
vacation of his the'
most expensive on
record;
While in no sense
a fortune hunter,
Baron d’Erlanger—
who is, in spite of
his French name,
an Englishman—is
known as a man of
expensive tastes.
And it is believed
that until his re
cent marriage he
has never had quite
ample means to
gratify them as he
would like.
But row, as a result of some mys
terious incident or series of incidents
at Deauville, he may never, again be
able to loll in such luxury as he has
known since he became tbe former Mrs.
Peter Cooper Hewitt’s fourth husband.
Their marriage was hailed here as
about as near an approach to a real love
match as these days, when matrimony is
regarded so casually, often see. It fol
lowed a spectacular courtship in which
the baron successfully pitted his skill as
a wooer against such distinguished men
as the Shah of Persia and other noted
champions of romance.
Right up to the time when the baron
packed his trunk and started for Deau
ville there seemed to be nothing but
peace and happiness in* the d’Erlanger
household. The husband and wife had
.made a trip to America and she had
apparently relied greatly on his advice
and assistance in her legal battle for the
share of the Peter Cooper Hewitt mil
lions to which she thinks her daughter,
Ann, is entitled. a
This makes the fourth husband the
former Mrs. Hewitt has lost through
death or divorce since her first marriage,
in 1902, to Pedar Bruguiere. A son by
this first marriage will within a few
months now be old enough to vote. He
looks big and husky enough to have ad
ministered physical punishment to the
rather undersized baron, in case his
mother had wished.
Yet, with a son taller than she, is, the
former Mrs. Hewitt retains a very youth
ful appearance and a similar outlook on
life. It will be no surprise to many of
her friends in Paris to see her beginning
before very long a brand new matri
monial chapter in her romantic life.
Very possibly the news of the divorce
proceedings Baroness d’Erlanger is re
ported to have brought has stirred hope
again in the hearts of several of the
men who were beaten out in the race
for her heart by the English nobleman.
They were a distinguished collection of
suitors and if the former Mrs. Hewitt
decides to take one of them for her
fifth husband the match might prove
the most brilliant of all her many mar
riages.