The bacillus of beauty : a romance of to-day

A young lawyer arrives in bustling New York, his thoughts consumed by the woman he has loved since childhood. As he wanders the city’s towering streets, the familiar landmarks—St. Paul’s, the old Barnum’s site, the marble halls of a prestigious law firm—spark a vivid mix of awe and nostalgia. The narrative captures his bewildering sense of déjà vu when he finally confronts the woman he has imagined for years, Helen, whose presence feels both miraculous and unsettling.

Against this backdrop of urban grandeur, the story introduces an unexpected scientific thread: a mysterious bacillus that promises to alter beauty itself. The protagonist’s curiosity about this strange organism intertwines with his burgeoning romance, hinting at a journey of transformation that mirrors the metamorphosis of a chrysalis. Listeners will be drawn into a tale where love, ambition, and the promise of change converge in the early‑twentieth‑century metropolis.