Part 40 (1/2)

”Well, I'm glad of that. But so must I be going.”

And she whisked out of the room, leaving in my hands this astounding outrage upon truth and decency:

BY EDWARD PEPPER.

Helen Wins.h.i.+p is the most extraordinary woman living;

The most beautiful woman in the world;

A scientist of national repute;

She has just pa.s.sed through a tragedy which has left an impress upon her whole life;

Most wonderful of all, she is the only American girl who has ever refused a t.i.tled lover.

This is her life story, told for the first time:--

_Chapter I.--Death:_

A woman's scream of agony!

A strange scene, like an alchemist's den, the light of falling day reflected from test tubes and crucibles, revealing in dark corners uncouth appliances, queer diagrams, strange odours. Upon the floor the inert figure of the foremost of New York's chemists; above his prostrate form, wild-eyed with horror at seeing his dramatic death, a beautiful woman, the most beautiful in the world.

This was the end of Prof. Carl Darmstetter;

This was how the legacy of science came to Helen Wins.h.i.+p.

To carry it out, she has refused a t.i.tle.

_Chapter II.--Love:_

Born upon a Western farm, Helen Wins.h.i.+p's father is a yeoman of the st.u.r.dy stock that has laid the world under tribute for its daily bread.

Early she made the choice that devotes her life to science. She was the confidant of the dead chemist, whose torch of knowledge she took up firm- handed, when it fell from his nerveless fingers.

She is vowed as a vestal virgin to science.

Strange whim of destiny! Across this maiden life of devoted study came the shadow of a great name which for two hundred years has been blazoned upon the pages of England's history.

In the loom of fate the modest gray warp of Helen Wins.h.i.+p's life crossed the gay woof of a Lord of high degree, and left a strange mark upon the web of time.

Love came to her--many times; but came at last in a guise that seldom woos in vain.

_Chapter III.--Sacrifice:_

Who has forgotten the memorable scene in the Metropolitan Opera House, when the beautiful Miss Wins.h.i.+p took the vast audience by storm, causing almost a panic, which was exclusively reported in these columns?

It was followed by a greater sensation.