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 +------------------------------------------------------+ |Transcriber's note: | | | |The book, "Ships That Pass in the Night", | |by Beatrice Harraden, mentioned in the forenote, | |is available at http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/12476 | | | +------------------------------------------------------+ 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.