A Woman-Hater

A Woman-Hater

Episode 1

"THE Golden Star," Homburg, was a humble hotel, not used by gay gamblers, but by modest travelers.

At two o'clock, one fine day in June, there were two strangers in the _salle a' manger,_ seated at small tables a long way apart, and wholly absorbed in their own business.

One was a lady about twenty-four years old, who, in the present repose of her features, looked comely, sedate, and womanly, but not the remarkable person she really was. Her forehead high and white, but a little broader than sculptors affect; her long hair, coiled tight, in a great many smooth snakes, upon her snowy nape, was almost flaxen, yet her eyebrows and long lashes not pale but a reddish brown; her gray eyes large and profound; her mouth rather large, beautifully shaped, amiable, and expressive, but full of resolution; her chin a little broad; her neck and hands admirably white and polished. She was an Anglo-Dane--her father English.

If you ask me what she was doing, why--hunting; and had been, for some days, in all the inns of Homburg. She had the visitors' book, and was going through the names of the whole year, and studying each to see whether it looked real or assumed. Interspersed were flippant comments, and verses adapted to draw a smile of amusement or contempt; but this hunter passed them all over as nullities: the steady pose of her head, the glint of her deep eye, and the set of her fine lips showed a soul not to be diverted from its object.

The traveler at her back had a map of the district and blank telegrams, one of which he filled in every now and then, and scribbled a hasty letter to the same address. He was a sharp-faced middle-aged man of business; Joseph Ashmead, operatic and theatrical agent--at his wits'

end; a female singer at the Homburg Opera had fallen really ill; he was commissioned to replace her, and had only thirty hours to do it in. So he was hunting a singer. What the lady was hunting can never be known, unless she should choose to reveal it.

Karl, the waiter, felt bound to rouse these abstracted guests, and stimulate their appetites. He affected, therefore, to look on them as people who had not yet breakfasted, and tripped up to Mr. Ashmead with a bill of fare, rather scanty.

The busiest Englishman can eat, and Ashmead had no objection to snatch a mouthful; he gave his order in German with an English accent. But the lady, when appealed to, said softly, in pure German, "I will wait for the _table-d'hote."_"The _table-d'hote!_ It wants four hours to that."The lady looked Karl full in the face, and said, slowly, and very distinctly, "Then, I--will--wait--four--hours."These simple words, articulated firmly, and in a contralto voice of singular volume and sweetness, sent Karl skipping; but their effect on Mr. Ashmead was more remarkable. He started up from his chair with an exclamation, and bent his eyes eagerly on the melodious speaker. He could only see her back hair and her figure; but, apparently, this quick-eared gentleman had also quick eyes, for he said aloud, in English, "Her hair, too--it must be;" and he came hurriedly toward her. She caught a word or two, and turned and saw him. "Ah!" said she, and rose; but the points of her fingers still rested on the book.

"It is!" cried Ashmead. "It is!"

"Yes, Mr. Ashmead," said the lady, coloring a little, but in pure English, and with a composure not easily disturbed; "it is Ina Klosking.""What a pleasure," cried Ashmead; and what a surprise! Ah, madam, I never hoped to see you again. When I heard you had left the Munich Opera so sudden, I said, 'There goes one more bright star quenched forever.' And you to desert us--you, the risingest singer in Germany!""Mr. Ashmead!"

"You can't deny it. You know you were."

The lady, thus made her own judge, seemed to reflect a moment, and said, "I was a well-grounded musician, thanks to my parents; I was a very hard-working singer; and I had the advantage of being supported, in my early career, by a gentleman of judgment and spirit, who was a manager at first, and brought me forward, afterward a popular agent, and talked managers into a good opinion of me.""Ah, madam," said Ashmead, tenderly, "it is a great pleasure to hear this from you, and spoken with that mellow voice which would charm a rattlesnake; but what would my zeal and devotion have availed if you had not been a born singer?""Why--yes," said Ina, thoughtfully; "I was a singer." But she seemed to say this not as a thing to be proud of, but only because it happened to be true; and, indeed, it was a peculiarity of this woman that she appeared nearly always to think--if but for half a moment--before she spoke, and to say things, whether about herself or others, only because they were the truth. The reader who shall condescend to bear this in mind will possess some little clew to the color and effect of her words as spoken. Often, where they seem simple and commonplace--on paper, they were weighty by their extraordinary air of truthfulness as well as by the deep music of her mellow, bell-like voice.

"Oh, you do admit that," said Mr. Ashmead, with a chuckle; "then why jump off the ladder so near the top? Oh, of course I know--the old story--but you might give twenty-two hours to love, and still spare a couple to music.""That seems a reasonable division," said Ina, naively. "But"(apologetically) "he was jealous."

"Jealous!--more shame for him. I'm sure no lady in public life was ever more discreet.""No, no; he was only jealous of the public.""And what had the poor public done?"

"Absorbed me, he said."

"Why, he could take you to the opera, and take you home from the opera, and, during the opera, he could make one of the public, and applaud you as loud as the best.""Yes, but rehearsals!--and--embracing the tenor.""Well, but only on the stage?"

Episodes
1 Episode 1
2 Episode 2
3 Episode 3
4 Episode 4
5 Episode 5
6 Episode 6
7 Episode 7
8 Episode 8
9 Episode 9
10 Episode 10
11 Episode 11
12 Episode 12
13 Episode 13
14 Episode 14
15 Episode 15
16 Episode 16
17 Episode 17
18 Episode 18
19 Episode 19
20 Episode 20
21 Episode 21
22 Episode 22
23 Episode 23
24 Episode 24
25 Episode 25
26 Episode 26
27 Episode 27
28 Episode 28
29 Episode 29
30 Episode 30
31 Episode 31
32 Episode 32
33 Episode 33
34 Episode 34
35 Episode 35
36 Episode 36
37 Episode 37
38 Episode 38
39 Episode 39
40 Episode 40
41 Episode 41
42 Episode 42
43 Episode 43
44 Episode 44
45 Episode 45
46 Episode 46
47 Episode 47
48 Episode 48
49 Episode 49
50 Episode 50
51 Episode 51
52 Episode 52
53 Episode 53
54 Episode 54
55 Episode 55
56 Episode 56
57 Episode 57
58 Episode 58
59 Episode 59
60 Episode 60
61 Episode 61
62 Episode 62
63 Episode 63
64 Episode 64
65 Episode 65
66 Episode 66
67 Episode 67
68 Episode 68
69 Episode 69
70 Episode 70
71 Episode 71
72 Episode 72
73 Episode 73
74 Episode 74
75 Episode 75
76 Episode 76
77 Episode 77
78 Episode 78
79 Episode 79
80 Episode 80
81 Episode 81
82 Episode 82
83 Episode 83
84 Episode 84
85 Episode 85
86 Episode 86
87 Episode 87
88 Episode 88
89 Episode 89
90 Episode 90
91 Episode 91
92 Episode 92
93 Episode 93
94 Episode 94
95 Episode 95
96 Episode 96
97 Episode 97
98 Episode 98
99 Episode 99
100 Episode 100
101 Episode 101
102 Episode 102
103 Episode 103
104 Episode 104
105 Episode 105
106 Episode 106
107 Episode 107
108 Episode 108
109 Episode 109
110 Episode 110
111 Episode 111
112 Episode 112
113 Episode 113
114 Episode 114
115 Episode 115
116 Episode 116
117 Episode 117
118 Episode 118
119 Episode 119
120 Episode 120
121 Episode 121
122 Episode 122
123 Episode 123
124 Episode 124
125 Episode 125
126 Episode 126
127 Episode 127
128 Episode 128
129 Episode 129
130 Episode 130
131 Episode 131
132 Episode 132
133 Episode 133
134 Episode 134
135 Episode 135
136 Episode 136
137 Episode 137
138 Episode 138
139 Episode 139
140 Episode 140
141 Episode 141
142 Episode 142
143 Episode 143
144 Episode 144
145 Episode 145
146 Episode 146
147 Episode 147
148 Episode 148
149 Episode 149
150 Episode 150
151 Episode 151
152 Episode 152
153 Episode 153
154 Episode 154
155 Episode 155
156 Episode 156
157 Episode 157
158 Episode 158
159 Episode 159
Episodes

Updated 159 Episodes

1
Episode 1
2
Episode 2
3
Episode 3
4
Episode 4
5
Episode 5
6
Episode 6
7
Episode 7
8
Episode 8
9
Episode 9
10
Episode 10
11
Episode 11
12
Episode 12
13
Episode 13
14
Episode 14
15
Episode 15
16
Episode 16
17
Episode 17
18
Episode 18
19
Episode 19
20
Episode 20
21
Episode 21
22
Episode 22
23
Episode 23
24
Episode 24
25
Episode 25
26
Episode 26
27
Episode 27
28
Episode 28
29
Episode 29
30
Episode 30
31
Episode 31
32
Episode 32
33
Episode 33
34
Episode 34
35
Episode 35
36
Episode 36
37
Episode 37
38
Episode 38
39
Episode 39
40
Episode 40
41
Episode 41
42
Episode 42
43
Episode 43
44
Episode 44
45
Episode 45
46
Episode 46
47
Episode 47
48
Episode 48
49
Episode 49
50
Episode 50
51
Episode 51
52
Episode 52
53
Episode 53
54
Episode 54
55
Episode 55
56
Episode 56
57
Episode 57
58
Episode 58
59
Episode 59
60
Episode 60
61
Episode 61
62
Episode 62
63
Episode 63
64
Episode 64
65
Episode 65
66
Episode 66
67
Episode 67
68
Episode 68
69
Episode 69
70
Episode 70
71
Episode 71
72
Episode 72
73
Episode 73
74
Episode 74
75
Episode 75
76
Episode 76
77
Episode 77
78
Episode 78
79
Episode 79
80
Episode 80
81
Episode 81
82
Episode 82
83
Episode 83
84
Episode 84
85
Episode 85
86
Episode 86
87
Episode 87
88
Episode 88
89
Episode 89
90
Episode 90
91
Episode 91
92
Episode 92
93
Episode 93
94
Episode 94
95
Episode 95
96
Episode 96
97
Episode 97
98
Episode 98
99
Episode 99
100
Episode 100
101
Episode 101
102
Episode 102
103
Episode 103
104
Episode 104
105
Episode 105
106
Episode 106
107
Episode 107
108
Episode 108
109
Episode 109
110
Episode 110
111
Episode 111
112
Episode 112
113
Episode 113
114
Episode 114
115
Episode 115
116
Episode 116
117
Episode 117
118
Episode 118
119
Episode 119
120
Episode 120
121
Episode 121
122
Episode 122
123
Episode 123
124
Episode 124
125
Episode 125
126
Episode 126
127
Episode 127
128
Episode 128
129
Episode 129
130
Episode 130
131
Episode 131
132
Episode 132
133
Episode 133
134
Episode 134
135
Episode 135
136
Episode 136
137
Episode 137
138
Episode 138
139
Episode 139
140
Episode 140
141
Episode 141
142
Episode 142
143
Episode 143
144
Episode 144
145
Episode 145
146
Episode 146
147
Episode 147
148
Episode 148
149
Episode 149
150
Episode 150
151
Episode 151
152
Episode 152
153
Episode 153
154
Episode 154
155
Episode 155
156
Episode 156
157
Episode 157
158
Episode 158
159
Episode 159

Download

Like this story? Download the app to keep your reading history.
Download

Bonus

New users downloading the APP can read 10 episodes for free

Receive
NovelToon
Step Into A Different WORLD!
Download MangaToon APP on App Store and Google Play