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BACILLUS OF BEAUTY
BACILLUS OF BEAUTY
A Romance of To-day BY HARRIET STARK CONTENTS. CHAPTER Book I: The Broken Chrysalis: I. THE METAMORPHOSIS II. THE MOST BEAUTIFUL WOMAN IN THE WORLD III. THE HORNETS' NEST IV. THE GODDESS AND THE MOB V. A HIGH-CLASS CONCERT Book II: The Birth of the Butterfly: I. THE PSYCHOLOGICAL MOMENT II. A SUNDAY-SCHOOL LESSON III. THE QUEST OF KNOWLEDGE IV. GIRL BACHELOR AND BIOLOGIST V. THE FINDING OF THE BACILLUS VI. THE GREAT CHANGE VII. THE COMING OF THE LOVER Book III: The Joy of the Sunshine: I. CHRIST
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BOOK I.
BOOK I.
(From the Shorthand Notes of John Burke.) THE BACILLUS OF BEAUTY...
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CHAPTER I. THE METAMORPHOSIS.
CHAPTER I. THE METAMORPHOSIS.
NEW YORK, Sunday, Dec. 16. I am going to set down as calmly and fully as I can a plain statement of all that has happened since I came to New York. I shall not trim details, nor soften the facts to humour my own amazement, nor try to explain the marvel that I do not pretend to understand. I begin at the beginning—at the plunge into fairy tale and miracle that I made, after living twenty-five years of baldest prose, when I met Helen Winship here. Why, I had dragged her to school on a sled when sh
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CHAPTER II. THE MOST BEAUTIFUL WOMAN IN THE WORLD.
CHAPTER II. THE MOST BEAUTIFUL WOMAN IN THE WORLD.
Both girls ran to the window. Miss Reid laughed teasingly. "I see nobody—or all the world; it's much the same," she said; "but you have a caller." I rose from behind the desk with some confused, trivial thought that I ought to have spent part of the afternoon getting my hair cut. I had had but a glimpse of the new comer in her flight across the floor; I knew she had scarlet lips and shining eyes; that youth and joy and unimagined beauty had entered with her like a burst of sunlight and flooded t
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CHAPTER III. THE HORNETS' NEST.
CHAPTER III. THE HORNETS' NEST.
It was dusk when I left Helen. My head was buzzing. Out of her presence what I had seen was unthinkable, unbelievable. I could do nothing but walk, walk—a man in a dream. I rushed ahead, jostling people in silly haste; I dawdled. I carefully set my feet across the joinings of paving blocks; I zigzagged; I turned corners aimlessly. Once a policeman touched me as I blinked into the roaring torches of a street-repairing gang. Once I found myself on Brooklyn Bridge, looking down at big boats shaped
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CHAPTER IV. THE GODDESS AND THE MOB.
CHAPTER IV. THE GODDESS AND THE MOB.
As we descended the stairway and passed groups of students in front of the bulletin boards in the hall, Helen said:— "I am afraid you shouldn't have called for me. It isn't usual here." "We'll introduce the custom. How could I help coming—after yesterday? Helen—" "Have you seen Grant's tomb?" she inquired hastily. "It's just beyond the college buildings, hidden by them. You mustn't miss it, after coming so far." We had issued on the Boulevard, and a few steps brought us in view of the stately wh
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CHAPTER V. A HIGH-CLASS CONCERT.
CHAPTER V. A HIGH-CLASS CONCERT.
I stayed for supper, over which Kitty's big Angora cat presided; Kitty herself, her red curls in disorder, whimsical, shrewd, dipping from jest to earnest, teased Helen and waited on her, wholly affectionate and, I guessed, half afraid. The little den was cosy by the light of an open fire—for it seemed to be one function of the tall, pink-petticoated lamp to make much darkness visible; and Nelly was almost like the Nelly I had known, with her eager talk of home folks and familiar scenes. She ask
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BOOK II.
BOOK II.
( From the Autobiography of Helen Winship .)...
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CHAPTER I THE PSYCHOLOGICAL MOMENT
CHAPTER I THE PSYCHOLOGICAL MOMENT
No. 2 Union Square, December 14. I am the most beautiful woman in the world! I feel like a daughter of the gods. Bewildered, amazed, at times incredulous of my good fortune—but happy, happy, happy! There is no joy in heaven or earth like the joy of being beautiful—incomparably beautiful! It's such a never-ending surprise and delight that I come out of my musings with a start, a dozen times a day, and shudder to think: "What if it were only a dream!" Happy? I have no faith in the old wives' fable
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CHAPTER II. A SUNDAY-SCHOOL LESSON.
CHAPTER II. A SUNDAY-SCHOOL LESSON.
Going to church was a good old New England custom that in our family had borne transplanting to the West. Sunday was almost the pleasantest day in the week to me—not elbowing school-less Saturday from its throne; not of course even comparing with the bliss of Friday just after school, but easily surpassing the procession of four dull, dreaded, droning days the ogre Monday led. The beauty and fragrance of the summer Sabbath began in the early morning, when I went out into the garden, before putti
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CHAPTER III. THE QUEST OF KNOWLEDGE.
CHAPTER III. THE QUEST OF KNOWLEDGE.
Our district schoolhouse was a shadeless, unpainted box. Within, whittled desks, staring windows and broken plastering made it a fit prison for the boys, whose rough ways were proof of the refining influence of their daily intercourse with the hired men. I wonder such places are tolerated. What a contrast to Barnard's white and gold! John Burke was our teacher the following winter. He was only seventeen then, but already tall and well grown, in appearance quite a man. He was a student working hi
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CHAPTER IV GIRL BACHELOR AND BIOLOGIST
CHAPTER IV GIRL BACHELOR AND BIOLOGIST
Merrily flew the years and almost before I realised it came graduation. In the leafy dark of the village street, in the calm of a perfect June night, John Burke told me that he loved me, and I plighted my troth to him. We laid plans as we bade each other good-by, to meet again—perhaps—in New York in the fall; and even that little separation seemed so long. We did not guess that the weeks would grow to months, and—oh, dear, what will he think of me when he gets here? And what—now—shall I say to h
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CHAPTER V. THE FINDING OF THE BACILLUS.
CHAPTER V. THE FINDING OF THE BACILLUS.
If I have dwelt so long upon the laboratory and its master, it is because there the great blessing came that has glorified my whole existence. This was the way of it. One day I asked Prof. Darmstetter some question about the preparation of a microscopic slide from a bit of a frog's lung. "Vait!" he snapped, "I vill speak vit' you aftervards." The girls prophesied the terrible things that were to happen, as they lingered in the cloak room, waiting their turn on the threadbare spot in the rug whic
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CHAPTER VI. THE GREAT CHANGE.
CHAPTER VI. THE GREAT CHANGE.
The Bacillus of Beauty! Was the poor man insane? Had much study made of him a monomaniac babbling in a dream of absurdities? Do you wonder that I doubted? And yet—the thought flashed through my mind that things almost as strange have become the commonplace. I had seen the bones of my own hand through the veiling flesh. I had listened to a voice a thousand miles away. I had seen insects cut in two, grafted together, head of one and tail of another, and living. I had seen many, many marvels which
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CHAPTER VII. THE COMING OF THE LOVER.
CHAPTER VII. THE COMING OF THE LOVER.
December 15. Really, I don't know which is the more aggravating, John Burke or Kitty. Such a battle as I've had with them to-day! I had quite stopped fretting over John's absence. Indeed, though of course I wished to see him, I dreaded it; I was so happy, just as I was, and I had so many things to think about, so many dreams to dream and plans to make. I liked John when he taught the little prairie school and praised me to my wondering relatives. All through my college course I was proud of his
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CHAPTER I. CHRISTMAS.
CHAPTER I. CHRISTMAS.
No. — East 72d Street, Dec. 28. Milly and I have just come from a run in the Park, and here I am this shining white morning scribbling away in my own cosey room. My very own room—for the most delightful thing has happened; I'm visiting Mrs. Baker—Aunt Frank I am to call her, though she is really Ma's cousin—and she has asked me to spend the rest of the winter here. So I've really left the den. And I didn't deserve it. Why, when Mrs. Baker invited me to dinner on Christmas day, I dreaded the visi
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CHAPTER II. A LOOKING OVER BY THE PACK.
CHAPTER II. A LOOKING OVER BY THE PACK.
Jan. 2. If women are not meant to study, Prof. Darmstetter should be pleased with me. Instead of working up my laboratory notebooks, I have sat until midnight, dreaming. "Go to bed early and get your beauty sleep," says Aunt, but I push open the window and lean upon the sash and let the cold air blow over me. I'd like to dance a thousand miles in the moonlight; I'm so young, and so strong, and such glorious things are coming! To-morrow I shall have a foretaste of the future; I shall know what ot
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CHAPTER III. SNARLING AT THE COUNCIL ROCK.
CHAPTER III. SNARLING AT THE COUNCIL ROCK.
Jan. 10. To-day has been heaven! There was a famous lawyer among Aunt's guests and a United States Senator and a real author, a woman who has written books; but people brushed past them all for a word with me! And I'm going to the Opera! I shall sit in a box. Mrs. Van Dam says I'll make the sensation of the season! I'm going to the Opera! When men came this morning with palms and flowers to decorate the house, I ran off to the Park. I did almost run, really. There was a song at my lips: "Gladdes
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CHAPTER IV. IN THE INTERESTS OF MUSIC.
CHAPTER IV. IN THE INTERESTS OF MUSIC.
Tuesday morning, Jan. 14. I am writing before breakfast. They told me to lie quietly in bed this morning, but I'm not tired, not excited. Nothing more happened than I might have expected. I couldn't have supposed that in my presence people would be stocks and stones! But oh, it was beautiful, terrible! How can I write it? If I could only flash last night—every glorious minute of it—upon paper! And I might have lost it—they didn't want to let me go! There was a full family council beforehand. Joh
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CHAPTER V. A PLAGUE OF REPORTERS.
CHAPTER V. A PLAGUE OF REPORTERS.
Saturday evening, Jan. 18. Since Monday I have left the house but once. The Judge has given me a microscope so that I may study at home instead of going to Barnard; and to please him I make a pretence of cutting sections from the plants in Aunt's conservatory; but oh, it's so dull, so dull! Or would be but for my happy thoughts. It isn't interest in apical cell or primary meristem that makes me fret to return to Prof. Darmstetter! It's all on account of reporters that I am shut up like a state s
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CHAPTER VI. LOVE IS NOTHING!
CHAPTER VI. LOVE IS NOTHING!
Monday, Jan. 20. Dear me! Beauty is a responsibility! Such troubles, such trials about nothing! It's photographs this time! Last Wednesday—the day after the papers published so much about me—a strange man called in Mrs. Baker's absence and begged me to let him take my photograph—as a service to Art. If Aunt had been at home I wouldn't have been permitted to see him. But the man was pleasant and gentlemanly, and so sincere in his admiration that he won the way to my heart. I'm afraid devotion is
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CHAPTER VII. LOVE is ALL!
CHAPTER VII. LOVE is ALL!
Thursday, Jan. 30. I've been trying to read, but I can't. Pale heroines in books are so dull! Last night came the Van Dams' dance and my triumph—and a greater triumph still; for to-day I have a wonderful, beautiful chapter to add to my own book, to the story of the only woman whose life is worth while. I see the vista of my future, and—ah, little book, my eyes are dazzled! A rich woman would be a beggar, a clever woman a fool, an empress would leave her throne to exchange with me. Nothing, nothi
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CHAPTER VIII. A LITTLE BELTED EARL.
CHAPTER VIII. A LITTLE BELTED EARL.
Feb. 4. Five wasted days; and nothing more to tell, though some women mightn't think so; nothing but—another triumph! I've been to the Charity Ball. I've danced with a Lord—such a little fellow to be a belted Earl! I have scored over brilliant women of Society. It isn't the simple country girl of a few weeks ago whom Ned loves, but a wonderful woman—a Personage; and I am glad, glad, glad! Though no woman could be good enough for him. I'm not; I am only beautiful enough. And oh, so feverishly hap
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CHAPTER I. THE KISS THAT LIED.
CHAPTER I. THE KISS THAT LIED.
East Sixty-seventh Street, Feb. 25. He said he did not love me. It is not true. I saw love when he spoke, when he kissed my hands. He does love me, but he guards a man's honour. I have broken John's heart, given up my home, estranged my friends; I have given up even Ned for love of him. But I'd have gone to the ends of the earth in gladness, I'd have given up for him all else in life—even my beauty; which is dearer than life. He'll come to me yet. Milly won't forgive, won't trust. She will not t
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CHAPTER II. THE IRONY OF LIFE.
CHAPTER II. THE IRONY OF LIFE.
I've been feverishly gay since I came to Meg. I have walked between stormwinds—grief behind and grief that I must enter. I've dined and danced, and I've clenched my hands lest I might shriek, and I've longed to hide away and die. But I won't die. I'm not like other women—a silly, whining pack, their hearts the same fluttering page blotted with the same tears wept in Hell or Heaven. Love is a draught for two—or one; wretched one!—to drink. My life is for the world. Oh, I've been a child, caring o
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CHAPTER III. THE SUDDENNESS OF DEATH.
CHAPTER III. THE SUDDENNESS OF DEATH.
The Nicaragua, March 29. How could I have known that he would die? I had never seen any one die. It was as if life were a precious wine rushing from an overturned glass that I could not put right again. I did not dream a man could be so fragile. For weeks I have not added a word to this record. But now I have looked upon death, and I must write. There is no one to confide in but this little book, stained by so many tears, confident of so many sorrows, so many disappointments. Prof. Darmstetter i
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CHAPTER IV. SOME REMARKS ABOUT CATS.
CHAPTER IV. SOME REMARKS ABOUT CATS.
The Nicaragua, April 27. I've been sitting for my portrait to Van Nostrand. It is an offering to the shades of Prof. Darmstetter. I must preserve some attempted record of my beauty for his sake; though the Bacillus couldn't have made, if he had lived, another woman as beautiful as I. It isn't conceivable. I believe I'm a little tired with that, and with rearranging Mrs. Whitney's flat, and a little worried, too, about bills, the money from Father comes so slowly. Not that I need mind owing a tri
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CHAPTER V. THE LOVE OF LORD STRATHAY.
CHAPTER V. THE LOVE OF LORD STRATHAY.
May 5. Lord deliver me from the well-meaning! Because of one pestilential dun, I've done what the weary waiting for money, money, money would never have driven me to do. I've been to Uncle, unknown to his wife, to ask advice. I might have known better. It was with a wildly beating pulse that I entered the familiar little private office, thinking that Ned might be on the other side of the partition—near enough, perhaps, to hear me; that he might at any moment rap upon the door and enter the room
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CHAPTER VI. LITTLE BROWN PARTRIDGES.
CHAPTER VI. LITTLE BROWN PARTRIDGES.
May 20. I wonder if I couldn't earn money. For the last week—nothing but trouble. No check from Father. Hugh Bellmer I have not seen. Strathay has really gone, spirited away by that superior cousin. And Mrs. Whitney has deserted me—oh, if it were not for money troubles, I wouldn't mind that, cruel as was the manner of it! Of course the newspapers soon learned that Strathay had left town. Trust them for that; and to make sensational use of it! The first I knew of it, indeed, was when one day Cadg
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CHAPTER VII. LETTERS AND SCIENCE.
CHAPTER VII. LETTERS AND SCIENCE.
May 29. I've revised my opinion of the newspapers. The Star has done me a good turn, a great service. I had tried to borrow money of Cadge, for the third time, and she told me she had none—which was true, or she would have let me have it. Then she said:— "Why don't you sell a story to some paper—either something very scientific, or else, 'Who's the Handsomest Man in New York?' or—" "I think I ought to get something from them, after all the stuff they've printed; but how? To whom do I go?" "Nobod
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CHAPTER VIII. A CHAPERON ON A CATTLE TRAIN.
CHAPTER VIII. A CHAPERON ON A CATTLE TRAIN.
June 4. This has been one of my worst days, and I have for a long time had no days but bad ones. Three things have happened, either one of which would alone have been a calamity. Together they crush, they frighten, they humiliate me! This morning came this letter from Father:— Hannibal, May 31. "DEAR NELLY:— "I take my pen in hand to tell you that we are all well and hope that you are the same. It was a very cold winter and we were so put to it to get water for the stock after the dry fall that
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CHAPTER IX. A BURST OF SUNLIGHT.
CHAPTER IX. A BURST OF SUNLIGHT.
June 8. They say the darkest hour comes just before the dawn. It was so with me. My troubles grew too great to bear, then vanished in an hour. Fate couldn't forever frown. I knew there must be help; some hand outstretched in a pitiless world. Really I am almost happy, for in the most unexpected and yet the most natural fashion, my perplexities have vanished; and I believe that my life will not be, after all, a failure. The hour before the dawn was more than dark. It was dreary. In the morning I
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CHAPTER X. PLIGHTED TROTH.
CHAPTER X. PLIGHTED TROTH.
"Helen, you seem tired," John said as I met him at the door—at first I peeped out from behind it, I remember, as if I feared the bogey-man—"Have you been too hard at work?" "I've been out all the afternoon," I said, "and I suppose I am rather tired, but it was pleasant and warm; and I wore a veil." There was a little awkward pause after I had ushered him to the reception room, and then, guiding the talk through channels he thought safe, he spoke about his law work, the amusing things that happen
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BOOK V.
BOOK V.
(From the Shorthand Notes of John Burke.)...
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CHAPTER I. THE DEEDS OF THE FARM.
CHAPTER I. THE DEEDS OF THE FARM.
Sunday, June 13. In three days it will be a year since Helen promised to marry me, and on that anniversary she will be my wife. It is strange how exactly according to my plan things have come about—and how differently from all that I have dreamed. She is the most beautiful woman in the world; she is to be my wife sooner than I dared to hope—and—I must be good to her. I must love her. Did I ever doubt my love until she claimed it five days ago with such confidence in my loyalty? In that moment, a
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CHAPTER II. CADGE'S ASSIGNMENT.
CHAPTER II. CADGE'S ASSIGNMENT.
"You say Winship is around at your place?" asked Judge Baker Friday morning. I had before told him about the approaching marriage. "The dear old boy! I am very glad." "He wants to talk with you about a mortgage," I said bluntly. "Can you dissuade him? I think the situation in its main features is no secret to you." The Judge frowned in surprise. "You don't mean that she—" "Of course Helen has refused her father's offer. We have so arranged everything that no help from him is needed, but he may b
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CHAPTER III. "P. P. C."
CHAPTER III. "P. P. C."
June 21, 19—. Helen and I were to have been married just a year ago. To-day I have been going over her own story of her life—of her meeting with Darmstetter, of the blight he cast upon her, of her growth in loveliness, her brief fluttering in the sunshine, her failure, her supping with sorrow, her death. I must bring to a close the record of this miracle. This who was the most extraordinary woman that ever lived, was also little Nellie Winship. Again as I remember her as she was—a thing of such
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