Produced by Roland Schlenker, Mary Meehan and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net THE BEAUTY _By_ MRS. WILSON WOODROW _Author of_ The Silver Butterfly, etc. WITH ILLUSTRATIONS BY WILL GREFE INDIANAPOLIS THE BOBBS-MERRILL COMPANY PUBLISHERS COPYRIGHT 1910 THE BOBBS-MERRILL COMPANY PRESS OF BRAUNWORTH & CO. BOOKBINDERS AND PRINTERS BROOKLYN, N. Y. [Illustration: Perdita] CONTENTS I A BACHELOR'S BRIDE 1 II A FAR WORLD OF DREAMING 14 III PINK AND WHITE EXISTENCE 35 IV OUR LOVING FRIENDS 55 V PERDITA'S TALISMAN 64 VI SIROCCO 75 VII THE GIFT OF FREEDOM 84 VIII FOOLS' LAUGHTER 98 IX A TELEPHONE CALL 114 X OUT OF THE GILDED CAGE 125 XI A DOLL OR A BOX OF CANDY 137 XII FUSCHIA FLEMING 150 XIII SHOCKING THE HEWSTONS 165 XIV PUBLICITY 175 XV A WIDOW'S SMILE 192 XVI FATHER AND DAUGHTER 206 XVII DO YOU LOVE ME? 219 XVIII PLAYING THE GAME 231 XIX HE CALLS ON HIS WIFE 243 XX THE MAGIC WORD 256 XXI TWO ANNOUNCEMENTS 268 XXII HEPWORTH MISUNDERSTANDS 278 XXIII ITS ANCIENT CHARM 289 XXIV WAITING FOR PERDITA 305 XXV WITH MY HEART'S LOVE 316 THE BEAUTY CHAPTER I A BACHELOR'S BRIDE If the proper statistics of bachelorhood were accurately tabulated they would show that at certain fixed and recurring periods, a confirmed old bachelor, say one in every ten, casts his dearly-bought experience, his hard-won knowledge of the world and women to the four winds of heaven, and chooses for himself a wife; and, as his friends and relatives invariably protest, a bungling job he makes of it. He may, before the world, walk soberly, discreetly, advisedly and in the fear of God in every other respect, but when it comes to selecting a companion for the rest of his life, he follows, apparently, a predestined leading, some errant and tricksy impulse, and from a world of desirable and waiting helpmates, eminently suitable, he will, in nine cases out of ten, fix his heart upon the one inevitable She who can keep the pot of trouble ever boiling for him.