Task: Story Composition
Input (English): Fact1: young French woman arrives in New York looking for expatriate Charles Thevenet, Fact2: old wealthy and dissipated rake guesses Madeline 's purpose in visiting him, Fact3: Madeline has been sent by Paul to ask him for money to support revolution in France, Fact4: Flynn are after Charles fortune having waited for old man to die, Fact5: Charles medicine has been laced with poison
Output (English): A young French woman, Madeline Minot, arrives in New York in 1848, looking for expatriate Charles Thevenet. She is initially turned away at the door by his mistress and housekeeper, Lorna Bounty, but persists, presenting Charles with a letter of introduction from his only grandson, Paul, a romantic revolutionary with whom Madeline is in love. Charles is an old, wealthy, and dissipated rake, who correctly guesses Madelines purpose in visiting him: she has been sent by Paul to ask him for money to support the revolution in France. Assisted by hulking butler, Martin, and cook Mrs. Flynn, who are also after Charles fortune, having waited for the old man to die for ten years, Lorna lets Charles drink as much as he wants, contrary to the instructions of Dr. Roland, and replaces some prescribed medicine. Madeline has one ally, a chance acquaintance named Dupin, a heavydrinking impecunious poet, to whom she turns when she suspects that Charles medicine has been laced with poison. They take a sample to a pharmacist, who determines that it is sugar water. Dupin becomes acquainted with Lorna, and recognizes her as a former actress who achieved fame with Charles backing. During her stay at Charles residence, Madeline softens the old reprobates heart. He summons his lawyer, Durand, and changes his will. Then he secretly puts arsenic in his drink, ready to end his life. However, he suffers a stroke that paralyzes him, leaving him only partial control of his face. He watches helplessly as Durand drinks the fatal brandy. The will is then snatched up by Charles pet raven and hidden in the fireplace. Before the old man dies, he tries to pass along to Dupin the location of the will solely with his eyes. Lorna guesses that there is a new will and its contents. After the funeral, she and her accomplices search desperately for it without success. Dupin is more perceptive; from the clues, he finds and retrieves the document, though he has to fight Martin off to escape the house alive. When the will is read, it reveals that Paul does inherit the money; Lorna, Martin and Mrs. Flynn are left only the house. At the end of the film, Madeline goes looking for Dupin to thank him. Dupins generous bartender, Flaherty, tells her he has gone, leaving only a seemingly worthless IOU for his sizable bar bill. On one side is a draft of a verse about a woman named Annabel Lee, and on the other, the IOUs signature, which reveals Dupins real name: Edgar Allan Poe.