Produced by Julia Miller and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net (This file was produced from images generously made available by The Internet Archive) SUPERWOMEN ALBERT PAYSON TERHUNE INTERNATIONAL FICTION LIBRARY CLEVELAND, O. NEW YORK, N.Y. Copyright, MCMXVI By Moffat Yard & Company _Printed in the United States of America by_ THE COMMERCIAL BOOKBINDING CO. CLEVELAND Transcriber's Note: The headings for Chapters 8, 11, and 12 have been retained as roman numerals, as printed. Words printed in bold type are indicated by a tilde: ~bold~. FOREWORD Find the Woman. You will discover her in almost every generation, in almost every country, in almost every big city--the Super-Woman. She is not the typical adventuress; she is not a genius. The reason for her strange power is occult. When psycho-vivisectionists have thought they had segregated the cause--the formula--what you will--in one particular Super-Woman or group of Super-Women, straightway some new member of the clan has arisen who wields equal power with her notable sisters, but who has none of the traits that made them irresistible. And the seekers of formulas are again at sea. What makes the Super-Woman? Is it beauty? Cleopatra and Rachel were homely. Is it daintiness? Marguerite de Valois washed her hands but twice a week. Is it wit? Pompadour and La Valliere were avowedly stupid in conversation. Is it youth? Diane de Poictiers and Ninon de l'Enclos were wildly adored at sixty. Is it the subtle quality of femininity? George Sand, who numbered her admirers by the score--poor Chopin in their foremost rank--was not only ugly, but disgustingly mannish. So was Semiramis. The nameless charm is found almost as often in the masculine, "advanced" woman as in the ultrafeminine damsel. Here are stories of Super-Women who conquered at will. Some of them smashed thrones; some were content with wholesale heart-smashing. Wherein lay their secret? Or, rather, their secrets? For seldom did two of them follow the same plan of campaign. ALBERT PAYSON TERHUNE "Sunnybank," Pompton Lakes, New Jersey 1916 CONTENTS CHAPTER ONE LOLA MONTEZ 1 CHAPTER TWO NINON DE L'ENCLOS 19 CHAPTER THREE PEG WOFFINGTON 41 CHAPTER FOUR HELEN OF TROY 62 CHAPTER FIVE MADAME JUMEL 89 CHAPTER SIX ADRIENNE LECOUVREUR 115 CHAPTER SEVEN CLEOPATRA 135 CHAPTER EIGHT GEORGE SAND 156 CHAPTER NINE MADAME DU BARRY 175 CHAPTER TEN LADY BLESSINGTON 204 CHAPTER ELEVEN MADAME RECAMIER 230 CHAPTER TWELVE LADY HAMILTON 250 CHAPTER ONE LOLA MONTEZ THE DANCER WHO KICKED OVER A THRONE