These curious gloves... have two thumbs, so that by an inside-out process they can get another pair of gloves when the palm becomes worn out.

Ned Tracy and Kate Dexter constituted themselves chairman and chairmaness of the committee and assumed full management.[…]The secret of how Mr. and Mrs. Towle were furnished with a wedding which they could not possibly have afforded, a trousseau and wedding presents that would not have come in a less pretentious affair has been well kept by the committee, especially by the chairman and chairmaness, who paid the bills.

And what mean these outbursts and objurgations of his, you will ask; these suggestions, furtive, rhapsodical, mystical; this furibund allegro about Money, Mediums, and Bohemia; …

A common mating strategy amongst females is to secure good genes for her offspring, ideally from a male that is also a reliable long-term provider. Since males like that are rare, many females have to make trade-offs.