, 1896-03-21
FOUNDED ON FACT.


Eyes, sir; II tail, middle aged gen
tlelnan," replied my servant.
] could recollect no acquaintance Of
the name.
ASK him to step in here, I said ut
LENGTH
The man who entered my study was
a complete stranger to me. Eo was tall,
between 10 and 80 years of age, rather
thin and very angular in his move
mcuts. He wore a short beard, was
slightly bale and had decidedly pleasant
feau.cs. When he smiled, his eyes
seemed to sparkle and he exhibited two
excellent rows of toeth.
~ an afraid am quite unknown to
YOU" io began.
l bowed my head and wondered what
was coming nsxt
Bat yUur name as a rising young
novelist and writer Of short stories is.
Of course, familiar to me. J."
Who coTld he be; l begun 10 have
visions of publishers and editors clamor-
ing at my door for contributions from
my pen. Was he about to give me Il
commission FOR a new serial? Perhaps
he represented some leading magazine
and was prepared to pay sans undream-
ed of for my tales Of love and adven
ture. Or was he only some newspaper
interviewer bert on satisfying the curl
osity Of his readers respecting my opin
ions and manner of life?
pray be seated. " | said.
We sat facing one another on opposite
sides Of the hearth rnS. II was n cold.
dull November day, and the bright fire
that burned in the crate was comfort
ing. Mr.. Rogers took from his pocket ~
copy Ct II popular magazine and held il
on his knee.
Capital story that of yours!'
"Which:" l asked.
"Tl.at last one in here" he said. tap
ping tho covers Of tho book. "tho sorry
called The Mystery Of ElwMcr'5-lill.'
II an glad yUn like It, Int ~rcaliy"--
"a splendid story! Rather daring
though"
"Daring:"
"Yes-to publish a story of real life
as mere fiction
Il don't understand what''-
But why did you make Maud Il dark
girl: OF coarse she WAS fair, as you
know. Her zeal name was Mabel, but
that doesn't NATTER
"Yoa axe quite
"Siill. yon have hit off Maltby &c
at"
1.-The story, [ assure, you, was'--
written under pressure of time:
w., u, So r-It 80 - Ip.t 90, i .
scription of the old mill is exact. Row
ner's Mill il. of course, Radford's Mill,
near B.
ALLOW me to explain
"Quite unnecessary, I assure you.
You were perfectly justified in changing
the name But that passage il which
you describe the act Of vengeance on
Maltby is remarkably powerful and ac-
curate. All! here it is: Seeing his We
tim powerless, Jasper Gore, with the
strength Of Il giant, seized him in his
ar1ns and for ono moment i;oiG Lin
above his head in front Of the open win
dow. Then ho hurled the wretched man
into space. Down. down he fell, until,
with a splash that was inaudibie amid
the roar and rattle Of the mill, Maltby
disappeared i'll the deep water OF tho
race, and was instantly battered to u
shapeless mass by the huge revolving
water wheol!"
But surely you know
"Oh, yes; 1 know every inch of tha
place. or course you are Il little bit
rough on me-"
"On you!'
Eyes; you sce, Jasper Gorc'-
I rose to my feet. So far l had hardly
been able to get Il word i'll edgeways. ]
had not the slightest idea what ho was
driving at. He was %exhausting my pa
thence.
"I.ook here, SIR" I shouted warmly,
II haven't yet the pleasure of knowing
who you are. What the-will you kind
ly tell me what you are talking about:''
"Wby, my dear Sir, 1 am talking
about this story of yours called The
Mystery Of Rowner's MILL l was just
saying that you have made me-other-
wise Jasper Core
Gore is Il of my characters. I I'M.
derstand your name is Rogers!'
Tho man leaned back and roared with
laughter. 1 sank into my chair in IL
state of evaporation.
Excuse my laughing" no said, 'but
when you put on That innocent air it is
irresistibly funny. What does it matter
which name / use, Gore or Rogers--are
they not one and the same? What was
easier? You took my real name, Rogers.
rejected the last two letters, transposed
the others. and then you had it-Gore!'
/ was now quite out Of temper.
II don't know what your object is, ="
/ said, Gin coming here and talking this
nonsense. The story is pure fiction-a
simple creation of my own brain-from
beginning to end. So far as I know, the
characters eve lived, the incidents
never happened, the mill described new.
er had any existence-exoept in my own
imagination"
Ny visitor watched me as I spoke,
and q grin slowly broadened on his face,
until he again burst into loud laughter.
81 should never have believed it!'
he said.
Believed WHAT"
lyon novclists, it would appear, are
10 STEPPED in fiction that you lose all lie
gard for truth"
"What do you meal sir?" I cried in