The Sunday morning news., 1891-11-29

Ii.
"Mark, man, what has taken posses
sion of your
Liddell looked up in surprise and saw
by the look in his friends face that it
was time for him to clear his character.
at isn't SO bad as that, Maurice. |
am trying to recover something that is
either lost or stolen, and detectives must
not be hampered by conventional moral
tiles"
"What have you lost?'
"a plot. The plot of my last novel.
came down here few weeks ago to
work, because this is the quietest place
in the world before it becomes fashion
able, but | became too absorbed and lost
count of the time One morning /
looked out and found the ground COW
cred with people. l ought to have re-
treated then, but was deep in critical
chapter, and I rashly determined to risk
it and stay till got that particular in
spiration down on paper. Well, paid
for it, l took my portfolio down to
rustic seat which had come to look
upon as my peculiar property, and tried
to pay no attention to the inane multi
tudes who sauntered and firted on
every hand. l reviewed my work up to
the point / had then reached. glanced
mentally over what remained to do.
Everything was in perfect order. Then
/ settled down to work. My thoughts
must have wandered a little, for my
conscience presently aroused me with
the feeling that was wasting my morn
ing. drew my papers toward me, and
could think of nothing. My plot was
gone, absolutely and beyond recall"
''Do you mean you had forgotten it?"
Forgotten? Forgotten? How do you
define memory"
'sOh, if you are going into metaphysics
/ surrender at discretion.
"The custodian Of mental property
conveys the idea, doesn't it? Well, a
certain part of this mental property
passes from the possession of this Gus
todian. It cannot have been lost-that
/ is to say, annihilated. The fact that it
| once existed proves that it must always
! exist. If, not in one form, then in an
| other; if not here, then somewhere else.
| Now, under what conditions can mental
property exist? Manifestly only in the
mind of some person. Therefore, if an
| idea has passed out of my mind, you can
not escape the logical conclusion that it
must have passed into the mind of some
( one else"
''Then your theory is that your miss
ing plot has fastened itself upon the I'M
suspecting brain of some poor fellow who
| came out here for rest? l don't wonder
| you are anxious about it. just fancy the
victims bewilderrnent, a1nazement, hor-
/ ror at SO sudden an inroad of ideas.
Was it very exciting plot, Mark?''
''No, it was to be a realistic story.
| That is the worst part of it. Any one
might use it up unconsciously without
ever suspecting that it was not his own.
Of course, if he were to put it into a
book l could identify it. | feel very
sure | should recognize it at sight. But
! the great danger is that the present pos
SCISSOR will simply squander it on his own
! life. He will use it up on some Irritation,
! probably, where any one of dozen COM
monplace ideas would have served as
we'll"
'.Ah, then you had just reached the
firtatious stage of development!
"My hero and heroine had been parted
by quarrel. That's an idea, of course.
that had been utilized before But they
were to be brought together in a very
original and unique manner. That's the
idea that is gone"
"It is to be devoutly hoped then that
the plot selected some unpreoccupied
bachelor to experiment upon. 1t makes
my hair stand on end to think what the
consequences may be if an idea in that
particular stage of development should
attack some young man, say, who had
taken the opportunity while off with the
old love to get on with new. HI
would be bound to follow out the plot
wouldn't he, and make up with the OLE
whether he wanted to or not? Mark, yor
don't know what complications you may
be responsible for. You must recover
that dangerous plot at once"
4 SRzl51as,4
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