Note: Images of the original pages are available through
the Google Books Library Project. See
https://books.google.com/books?id=X-hEAQAAMAAJ&hl=en
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|Transcriber's note: |
| |
|The book, "Ships That Pass in the Night", |
|by Beatrice Harraden, mentioned in the forenote, |
|is available at https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/12476 |
| |
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THE DISAGREEABLE WOMAN.
A Social Mystery.
by
JULIAN STARR.
"Our acts our angels are, or good or ill,
Our fatal shadows that walk by us still."
--_Fletcher._
[Illustration: Logo]
New York:
Copyright, 1895, by
G. W. Dillingham, Publisher,
Successor to G. W. Carleton & Co.
MDCCCXCV.
[All Rights Reserved.]
CONTENTS.
Chapter Page
I. A Social Mystery 7
II. The Mystery Deepens 13
III. Prof. Poppendorf 19
IV. Prof. Poppendorf's Lecture 29
V. A Conversation with the Disagreeable Woman 41
VI. Count Penelli 50
VII. Macy's 61
VIII. The Professor in Love 71
IX. An Evening at the Boarding-House 82
X. A Rustic Admirer 93
XI. A Poor Patient 104
XII. The Disagreeable Woman in a New Light 112
XIII. Mrs. Wyman's Curiosity 117
XIV. The Quality of Mercy 122
XV. The Professor's Courtship 128
XVI. Sits the Wind in that Quarter? 139
XVII. My Rich Patient 150
XVIII. The Professor's Book 156
XIX. A Speech from the Throne 162
XX. A Startling Discovery 169
XXI. After Three Months 174
XXII. I Appeal to the Disagreeable Woman 181
XXIII. At Last 185
XXIV. The Light of Hope 189
TO MY READERS.
In reading Miss Harraden's charming idyl "Ships That Pass in the Night,"
it occurred to me that if there were Disagreeable Men there are also
Disagreeable Women. Hence this story.
THE DISAGREEABLE WOMAN.
CHAPTER I.
A SOCIAL MYSTERY.
"If I live till next July, I shall be twenty-nine years old," simpered
the young widow, and she looked around the table, as if to note the
effect of such an incredible statement.
"You look much older," said the Disagreeable Woman, looking up from her
tea and buttered toast.
There was a general silence, and the boarders noted with curiosity the
effect of this somewhat unceremonious remark.
Mrs. Wyman, the young widow, flushed and directed an angry and scornful
look at the last speaker.
"I am sure I am very much obliged to you," she said.
"You are quite welcome," said the Disagreeable Woman, calmly.
"You look older than I do," said the widow, sharply.
"Very possibly," said the Disagreeable Woman, not at all excited.
"Do you mind telling us how old you are?"
"Not at all! I have reached the age--"
All bent forward to listen. Why is it that we take so much interest in
the ages of our acquaintances? There was evidently a strong desire to
learn the age of the Disagreeable Woman. But she disappointed the
general expectation.
"I have reached the age of discretion," she continued, finishing the
sentence.
"Who is that woman?" I asked my next neighbor, for I was a new comer at
Mrs. Gray's table.
"Wait till after breakfast and I will tell you," he answered.
Mrs. Gray kept a large boarding-house on Waverley Place. Some fifteen
boarders were gathered about the large table. I may have occasion to
refer to some of them later. But first I will speak of myself.
I was a young medical practitioner, who after practising for a year in a
Jersey village had come to New York in quest of a metropolitan practise
and reputation. I was not quite penniless, having five hundred dollars
left over from the legacy of an old aunt, the rest of which had been
used to defray the expenses of my education. I had not yet come to
realize how small a sum this was for a professional start in the city. I
had hired an office, provided with a cabinet bedstead, and thus saved
room rent. For table board I had been referred to Mrs. Gray's
boarding-house, on Waverley Place.
"I boarded there once," said the friend who recommended me, "and found
not only a fair table but a very social and entertaining family of
boarders. They were of all classes," he continued, "from literateurs to
dry goods clerks, school-teachers, actors, and broken-down
professionals."
This description piqued my curiosity, and I enrolled myself as one of
Mrs. Gray's boarders, finding her terms not beyond my modest means.
But in his list of boarders he forgot--the Disagreeable Woman, who must
have come after his departure.
She was tall, inclined to be slender, with a keen face and singular
eyes. She never seemed to be excited, but was always calm and
self-possessed. She seemed to have keen insight into character, and as
may already be inferred, of remarkable and even perhaps rude plainness
of speech. Yet though she said sharp things she never seemed actuated by
malice or ill-nature. She did not converse much, but was always ready to
rebuke pretension and humbug as in the case of the young widow. What she
said of her was quite correct. I judged from her appearance that Mrs.
Wyman must be at least thirty-five years old, and possibly more. She
evidently did not intend to remain a widow longer than was absolutely
necessary.
She paid attention to every male boarder at the table, neglecting none.
She even made overtures to Prof. Poppendorf, a learned German, with a
deep bass voice and a German accent, whose green goggles and shaggy
hair, somewhat grizzled, made him a picturesque personality.
We all enjoyed the rebuff which Mrs. Wyman received from the
Disagreeable Woman, though it made us slightly afraid of her lest our
turns might come next.
But I am keeping my readers from my friend's promised account of the
lady who had excited my curiosity.