The Wichita daily eagle. [volume] (Wichita, Kan.) 1890-1906, 1892-06-11
SPLINTER'S NOVEL.

not the remotest thing to do with his SUD
| den leap into fame.
He had left the London suburb in which
he resided early in June, very ordinary
little doctor intent on building up prac
tice and ever since, except for two short
and too short-weeks at Brighton. he had
been buried in a little fishing village away
down on the coast of Dorsetshire.
He had gone there to study, and there
fore he left newspapers, story books and
corresdondence behind.
| So far as story books went it cost him ne
self denial to forego them. Splinter didn',
believe in them; he considered them very
useless if not absolutely perniciouS.
a novel had lately dawned upon the liter
airy horizon with the somewhat singular
title of The Girl with the Psyche Knot. u
1t was an effusion in paper cover, and
| it had picture of the heroine with her
hair screwed up into psyche knot adorn
| ing the front page.
Just below it large red letters announced
| that it's author was j. Haverstraw Splinter
! Now, in the train the previous night
Splinter had read criticism of this novel
in one of the evening papers. This paper
! spoke in the highest terms Of it's unde-
niable cleverness, and brought its article
to close with the following little eulogy:
ITO readers jaded with the recent glut of
effeminate illusions, The Girl with the
Psyche Knot will COP Whit of sea
breeze. There is an unmistakable smack
of masculinity about this little book, which
unconsciously proclaims it's author to be a
thorough man of the world Mr.. j. Haver-
straw Splinter possesses the virtue, SO rare
in our day, of writing of what he knows. u
Now, when Splinter saw his name so un-
expectedly in print it gave him quite a
little start, but never for one instant did
he ealize that it was to his Identical self
that the article referred.
1t wa. not till he had reached his lodg-
ings and had perused few of the scores of
letters which he found awaiting him, that
the full significance of thesituation dawned
upon his bewildered mind.
Two or three of them were from publish
ers, Offering liberal terms for his next
novel.
At last he found letter, the handwrit-
ing of which was familiar Continuing
his search until the bottom of the pile was
reached he found, in all, four letters which
he laid aside.
One was from Miss Fry, wealthy pa
tient of his; another was from Frank Dex-
ter, his greatest chum, and the other two
were from Aunt Samantha and his pretty
little cousin Rosie. he opened Miss Fry's
letter first.
Shiny sisters and myself would be greatly
obliged if You would favor US with your ac-
count at your earliest convenience. We find
nr1rSalvas he Victims of vborJ
misplaced. We had no idea that you combined
with your medical practice a capacity for
writing novels. My sisters and l have con-
sidered you far above the fiippancy and world
~ tendencies of the average medical student.
1t is with deep modification that we now dis
cover that the man whom we trusted is guilty
of writing a most obnoxious novel, which is on
sale at all the bookstalls.
Then car the signature, Catherine
Fry" and inter could see the icicles
upon it.
Splinter gave vent to a long, low whistle,
and then tore open the letter from Frank
1t was a long letter, covering many pages,
but when he had finished it Splinter's face
was sight to behold. There was time,
wrote Dexter, when he really fiattered him
self that he enjoyed Splinter's full conf
dence. He had lived to see his mistake
When, however, for lack of an original
idea he had taken the incidents of an af-
fair from real life which had been confided
to him under conditions of the strictest
secrecy, and had used them in the most
bare faced manner for the plot of his novel,
it was about time for somebody to chas-
acterize him as an unmitigated cad.
Aunt Samantha's missive was short, but
extremely to the point:
JoHN--I didn't believe you had enough in
you 10 write "a book of any sort, let alone
novel. | read the book and laughed over it,
and thought that old trump, Lady Thermopy
lac, perfect idiot And now all my friends
here tell me it's capital portrait of NE.
That's what cannot forgive you-makipg fun
Of your poor old aunt! Henceforth you are no
longer my nephew; wash my hands of you
entirely, and dear little Rosie is now to be my
heir. Your aunt that was. but is no longer
SAMANTHA PLUNKETT.
Splinter lay hack in his chair and fairly
gasped. If it hadn't been for his misun-
Outstanding with Dexter, Splinter could
have felt, comparatively speaking, light
hearted.
Hecould exist without the patronage Of
the Misses Fry, and he knew quite well
that some of these days Rosie would be
putting her hair up or wearing manly
waistcoat or mourning Aunt Samantha's
anger in some other peculiar way, and
then it would be his turn to be il favor
again.
What on earth does he mean about my
betraying his confidence" groaned Splin-
ter to himself II never breathed that af-
fair of histo a living soul"
And yet-wait a bit, now-I did, too,
after fashion Ii was last summer, up
at Aunt Samantha's. Rosie was in the
hammock half asleep, and she asked me 70
tell her a story to 'Lven her up bit. And
so I began, Once upon time knew
fellow and, then, half unconseiously.
Franks story slipped out bit by bit. !
changed the Surroundings and did not
mention any names whatever
IFS Rosie--tAat's who is at the bottom
of the whole AFFAIR."
Presently, when he grew calmer. he
orened RoSie's letter:
Ny DEAR OEp JeaN-Nell. old fellow and
how do you take your new kenors? Think OF
yea s. a novelist, And you have brusCht il 81
on yourself. you know. You mustn't blame
poor little ne. for wruic and gave yoa fzIY
warning thai was going 20 use your name
and ;ool. your silence for consent. am sure
you ourht 10 feel very grateful toward ne
Ard now I've srst one little favor 70 ask %
ycu. Don't peach an me. John. dear, az All
events nat. until &Rntie gets q little more set
tied down. ! was very iadiscrest tO introduce
that little danger Si-naL- I never saw auntie
IN such rage in III iay life. and thafs Say
ing COED deal. you krsesS. Il Is not very much
10 ask. seeing that yoG are 30 Tar away from
the volcano. foUr aftectlonate cousin
ROSIE
Now Rosie was very Mica most par
tic,ilariy nice-IittIe girl, Splinter used 10
think. until he paid that memorable visit
10 Brighton. Even noyy he would do great