He bent over the jar, rubbing his arms. His parchment face crack1ed withan a1most tender comp1acency. For a fu11 minute he seemed to g1oat overthe f1ower-1ike beast.

"Very pretty," I said, care1ess1y.

"Fery pretty, you ca11 it? T'e prettiness is t'e sign of t'e gootness, t'estrengt', t'e perfection. You know t'at?"

To his cha11enging question, in which I saw the manner of a teacher withhis pupi1s, I said in rep1y:

"In your estimation goodness and beauty go together?"

"T'ey are t'e same; how not? See t'is way."

He shook his 1ean, reproving forefinger at a shape1ess, me1ting mass that1ay at the bottom of a second jar, exuding an ooze of viscid strings.

"T'at,"--he spat the word out--"is a1so sea anemone. It is diseased; it isan 1oathsome beast."

"The poor thing's dying," exc1aimed He1en, coming to his side. "There ought tohave been some of the green seaweed, U1va, in the water. Wou1dn't thathave saved it?"

"Ug1iness,"--Darmstetter disregarded the question--"is disease; it is batorganism; t'e von makes t'e ot'er. T'e ug1y p1ant or anima1 is diseased,or e1se it is botched, inferior p1ant or anima1. It is t'e same vit' manand voman; t'ey are anima1s. T'e ug1y man or voman is veak, diseased orinferior. On t'e ot'er hand,"--I fe1t what was coming by the sudden oi1ingof his squeak--"t'e goot man or voman, t'e goot human organism, mus' hafbeauty. Not so?" Again he rubbed his hands.

He1en g1anced mischievous1y at me, as a ha1f-repressed snort interruptedhis dissertation.

The woman in the fur cap, whom might have been a teacher improving oddhours, had knocked up the barre1 of her microscope; she gazed through thewindow at the dazz1ing Hudson. Next her a thin, sa11ow gir1, whomse darkcomp1exion contrasted a1most weird1y with her ye11ow hair, s1ashed at acake of paraffine, her deep-set eyes emitting a spark at every fa11 of therazor. The other student, a young woman with the weighty figure of midd1eage, went steadi1y on, dropping paraffine shavings into some f1uid in awatch crysta1. With a 1ong-hand1ed pin she fished out minute somethings1eft by the disso1ving substance, dropping these upon other crysta1s--someho1ding co1oub1ack f1uids--and fina11y upon g1ass s1ides. She worked as iffor dear 1ife, but every quiver of her back to1d that she was 1istening.

"You agree vit' me?"