Says Reuters, "Every time British businessman Robert Charlton cheated on his wife, he bought her some extravagant jewelry to try to make amends. After 26 years of marriage, long-suffering Elizabeth Charlton had more than 40 glittering pieces" of antique jewelry worth some 300,000 pounds, including a 54-diamond "riviere necklace" that fetched a lot when the couple's daughter auctioned off the guilt stash.

According to the TImes of London, Charlton was the owner of an underwear packing business and two nightclubs, and apparently his philandering was "an open secret" to family and friends - indeed, it's his daughter who explained the collection's provenance to the auction house. But did he talk openly about it? Were the gifts apologies, or more like notifications of the affairs? Did everyone know? Did she wear them? Did the caliber of gift vary with the philandering? And was his largesse motivated by guilt, or a sense of decorum? Did it start as one and become some kind of deal with the devil? Lots of people cheated, not everyone ended up with the Crown Jewels.

In any event, this seems like the final humiliation. In case you're wondering, the Daily Mail trumpeted, "Cuckolded-wife-amassed-300-000-guilty-conscience-jewellery!" But what's so odd about the story is not the "cuckolding" (if that even makes sense) but the open pragmatism of the relationship - and the extent to which destigmatized divorce has altered the dynamic. It's interesting too to think of the fact that the extravagant jewels - a traditional symbol of patriarchal buying-and-selling, the traditional badge of both gold-digger and wronged wife, didn't find any takers amongst the couples's descendants: apparently they unanimously decided to sell. Cash may not be forever, but for good and ill, "forever" isn't really a requirement any more.

£6,000 A Fling: Philanderer Robert Charlton's 'Guilt Diamonds' Sold At Auction [TimesUK]
Diamonds: A Girl's Best Compensation For Infidelity [Reuters]

£300,000 Guilt Trip: The 43 Jewels Of Wife Who Received One Each Time Her Husband Strayed [Daily Mail]

The National Review's Kathleen Parker, who we've already invited to move to Thailand, calls for Palin to drop out for the good of the party and the country. Naturally, she also says that all liberal feminists are part of a "hirsute, Birkenstock-wearing sisterhood" — because, naturally, a feminist would never wear cute shoes or trim her bush, let alone shave her legs — but her point is that Sarah Palin is rather obviously out of her league in this contest. After watching Palin's interviews with Charlee Gibson, Sean Hannity and Katie Couric, Parker's response is: "If BS were currency, Palin could bail out Wall Street herself." Ouch.

Then there's the New York Times "Editorial Observer" column, which takes Sarah Palin to task for the little rape kit thing she's refusing to talk about. Writer Dorothy Samuels comes to basically the same conclusion that I did — that Palin must have known, and that she did it in an orgy of Republican-y cost-cutting that Samuels calls "boneheaded." Samuels compares that to Joe Biden's sponsorship of the Violence Against Women Act, which Samuels notes contained "provisions to make states ineligible for federal grant money if they charged rape victims for exams and the kits containing the medical supplies needed to conduct them." As far as Samuels is concerned, the voters deserve an explanation.

And as if that isn't enough, today, the Washington Post reports that Palin took $25,000 in gifts from various interests groups with issues before the legislature, causing the campaign to not respond with a denial (of course) and The Guardian digs into the nasty anti-Semitic leanings of the preachers and speakers at Palin's church. So, for the end of this week, Palin's an unqualified Republican who takes bribes, doesn't like Jews and is enthralled with cost-cutting to the point of amorality. That's not a good day.

Worst Of Sarah Palin's Katie Couric Interview (So Far) [Gawker]
More Painful Palin Excerpts From Couric Interview [Daily Kos]
Palin Problem [National Review]
Wasilla Watch: Sarah Palin and the Rape Kits [New York Times]
Palin Accepted $25,000 in Gifts, Alaska Records Show [Washington Post]
Palin's Preacher Problem [The Guardian]

• Poor Marc Jacobs. First the world calls him crazy, now he's caught up in a bribery scandal. Turns out that the superintendent of NYC's 69th Regiment Armory, where Jacobs' shows are held each season, demanded little cash prezzies upwards of $30,000 from Marc et al in order for him to grant them permission to show there. KCD, the PR firm that handles Marc Jacobs, is allegedly responsible for making the pay-offs. [WWD]
  
• Meanwhile, Marc has invited K-Fed to sit front row at his show tomorrow night! [WWD, 2nd item]
  
• Happy Birthday, Horrible Hagyness. [WWD, 5th item]
  
• Fashion Week is bad for Chloe Sevigny's self-esteem, "Fashion week makes me feel very self-critical. Like I'm not wearing the right thing or looking the right way. It's stressful." [WWD, 9th item]

• Samsonite creative director Quentin Mackay on why the company has tapped Chloe to collaborate on the design for the company's Black Label collection: "She has that vintage attitude. Her films are always off-the-cuff so it fits perfectly with the vintage modern feel. Design is always one step backwards, two steps forward." We think he meant that as a compliment, and yet... [Fashion Week Daily]
• What do male models do when they're no longer male models? Why, they do quickie sketches of fashion shows, of course. Former model Blue Logan (and yes, we keep reading that as Blue Lagoon, too) sits in the front row and draws the crowds and as many of the looks as he can while the show goes on. Also, he owns a night club. [Vogue UK]
• Ooh Amy Adams on the March cover of ELLE: Love. [Fashion Week Daily]
• Actress Lindsay Price on why she loves Cosmo: "My parents never taught us about the birds and the bees. They sat us down to watch Blue Lagoon and assumed that would be how we learned about sex, but Cosmo came to the rescue." [Fashion Week Daily]
• "I don't know anything cool that's going on!": Julia Restoin Roitfeld. [Fashion Week Daily]
• Seriously, how is "Would you change your style for a man?" even a legit question to ask? [FabSugar]
• Mazel Tov to Tommy Hilfiger on his engagement to girlfriend Dee Ocleppo. [Page Six]
• Also to Alex von Furstenberg (son of Diane), who is engaged to firmly-legal girlfriend Ali Kay. [Page Six]
• Victoria's Secret model Karolina Kurkova will be starring in the live-action movie of G.I. Joe. [Page Six]
• First John Deere made tractors, now it's making jeans. [BrandWeek]
• What a shocker: Children's sweatshirts made in China have been shown to have a defective pullstring that has been known to strangle children. [UPI]
• Nicole Kidman's bathing suit: Now feeding entire impoverished villages. [NYT]