Gloucester County Democrat. (Woodbury, N.J.) 1878-1932, 1900-10-25
The Pfot THAT Failed
Showing How the Plan of Novel
May he Too Intricate.
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We fellows had missed Dicks cheer
full face Q good deal from the Leyity
club of late, and the idea took posses
sion Of US that he must be i'll or in love.
AS his especial friend I was commits
stoned to Investigate. To this end I
called upon him at his chambers in the
Temple.
knocked, but received no reply, so
I pushed open the door and entered
I expected to end the room empty;
but, to my surprise, right before me as
l entered sat Dick Graham at a writ
ing table which was strewn with man
uscripts and odd scraps Of paper.
dick, old chap said I, stepping
forward to his desk and laying my
hand upon his shoulder WHAT'S up?
Turned deaf ali of sudden?'
"Good heavensr' he cried IL
you gave me fright, Harold I didn't
know any one was in the room"
81 beg your pardon" l replied "But
1 knocked several times, and as re-
ceiyed no Invitation to come in en-
tered"
'The fact is'' he began apoiogetical-
", with a glance at his desk.
"Yes, yes" I interrupted, q sec
your confounded old yarns. Well
you've simply got to turn them up for
a spell. Now, Gomez
ri would" replied Dick, were | en-
gagged upon any ordinary story, but
this one I am working at now is my
masterpiece"
@Hmw eoughed slightly.
Really" said Dick, Tn ia earnest
this time. Look here, FYe just conceiy-
ed the idea for a plot Which when
worked into a story will startle the
world with its brilliancy. Just have a
squint at the outline. Perhaps a sug-
gestion might help me-
Eagerly he rakcd together about a
dozen scraps Of paper covered with dia-
grams and sheet Of paper closely
written upon.
"Ny idea" he began, is this. Two
fellows. named respectively Dick and
Harry. are ia love with two girls, Lucy
and Mabel Now Dick loves Lucy,
while Harry's affections are centered
upon Mabel. Very well. But there is
trouble. e., Mabel doesn't care a
straw about Harry. Her fancy is
Dick. And the object Of Lucy's tender
passion is Harry. D'you seer
"Yes," rather family.
"Well," he continued, there is TO be
masked ball in their town. and my
four characters viii be present Dick
intends to GO as a Chinaman and Harry
as Mr.. Answers. Mabel is going as
Queen Mary and Lucy as Mrs. Kruger.
By some means they all get to know
what the DISCUSSES Of tile others will
be. But at the last moment each
couple exchange their dresses, reyeFs-
ing the characters. D'yoa seer
IL think I grasp it" I mutteTed
between my set teeth.
'Well," continued Dick. the CON
sequence is that Harry, who was going
as Mr.. Answers. but who has really
gone as Chinaman, proposes to Lucy,
who is made up as Queen Mary, taking
her to be Mabel, who as Il matter of
fact is masquerading as Mrs. Kruger"
A cold sweat was beginning to break
out all over me, and believe I must
have worn that same kind Of hunted
expression which was now increasing
on poor Dicks face. lie had gathered
two or three scraps Of paper. and was
illustrating the "idea" to me by means
Of rough sketches Of the characters,
from one to the other of whom lie drew
arrows to point his meaning.
"Go on" said desperately
''You see," he said, in compliance,
'here is an arrow pointing from Dick
TO Lucy, showing he loves her; here is
another from Lucy TO Harry. showing
she loves Harry fairly trembled
now, and Graham's hair was assuming
a rigid perpendicular. "Then here is a
curved line from Harry to Lucy in the
diagram. showing them at the ball.
which points to the fact
Heavens, manw ] broke out drop
1t, or I'll go made
"Do have a little patence!w lie cried
excitedly. 'Tts getting quite simple,
I assure you. There are only a few
points 10 clear up. and it'll lie as simple
as A B c."
He dipped his pen in the ink, and
drew another diagram representing
the four characters.
'You see by this" he said, pointing
to it, "that Dick, who ought to be a
Chinaman, is really AR Answers;
while the girl he-that is. hrr and
Harry has changed his disguise from
Mr.. Answers TO Il Chinaman. Well,
Dick loves Lucy Queen Mary. really
but he takes Mrs. Kruger to be she.
Sec, IT,
pardon me, Dick, old fellow." in
terrupted. ut may be that | am very
dense, but l must confess that | can't
follow you"
''That's because you're a fooln' he
snapped "This is the grandest. most