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. CHAPTER II. THE MYSTERY DEEPENS. "The first time I met the Disagreeable Woman," said my neighbor, who was a commercial traveler, "was on my return from a business trip. Looking about the table to see what changes had occurred in the family, I saw sitting opposite to me a woman of somewhat unusual appearance, whose caustic speech made her feared by the rest of the boarders. This was three months since." "What is her name?" I asked. "Upon my word," he answered reflectively, "I am so accustomed to hear her spoken of as the Disagreeable Woman that I hardly remember. Let me see--yes, it is Blagden." "And the first name?" "Jane." "Is it Miss or Mrs. Blagden?" "I don't know." "She has been here three months and you do not know," I said, in surprise. "Precisely." "Did it never occur to any one to ask her?" "Yes, Mrs. Wyman asked her one day." "And what did she reply?" "Whichever you please--it is quite immaterial." "Do you think she has any reason to maintain secrecy on this point?" "I think not. She probably takes the ground that it is nobody's business but her own." "How soon did she obtain her designation of the 'Disagreeable Woman?'" "Almost immediately I judge. When I first met her she had been a member of Mrs. Gray's household for a week, and already this was the way she was spoken of." "I suppose she does not live in the house?" "No." "Where then?" "No one knows. She comes to her meals punctually, turning into Waverley Place from Broadway." "Has no one ever thought of following her home?"