The citizen. (Frederick City, Md.) 1895-1923, 1901-11-29
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5 A DOUBLE EVENT !
!, A Story of Two People 9
5 Struggling For Literary Fame (
x BY AMELIA PAIN. G
BY AMELIA PAIN.



The first letter fell out Of blue sky.
signed John Giddens," on to unprepared
soil, addressed as "E. +. Cornish, Esq.
Care of the Editor" and ran as follows:
Dear SiE--l have Just read your story, ''The
Carpunele. May | refer you to a sketch Of
mine, entitled The RUBY and nublisbed i,
stoner's Magazine for April last? am naturally
much hattered at being found worthy OF imita.
uon-an imitation frank and obvious as to
leave no room for question of chance or coinci.
dence. AT the same time. as l hope some day to
repubhsh my story in book form | should con.
slider it both honest and courteous on your part
II you would insert in the next number of the
magazine an acknowledgment that your story
was founded on mine. am, of course. only a
beginner in the field Of literature, but had hoped
that this need not absolve my colleagues from
ordinary fair play. Faithfully yours,
JOHN CIDDESs.
The answer came three days later:
Dear sir-Your letter of the 4th has been for.
wardcd to me. | had not read your story. sTbe
Ruby" until this morning. l had never. as it
happens. heard of it or seen Stoncr's Magazine for
April last. OF course | cannot prove this state.
ment. | can and do here swear to the truth of it.
but am aware that it still rests with you to he.
leve or disbelieye it and that disbelief is the
more probable. The resemblance between the
two stories is extraordinary. 1t is a most amlz.
ing coincidence, nothing more. Faithfully yours,
+. +. CORNISH.
John Giddens Immediately wrote again,
declaring himself perfectly satisfied with
the explanation. apologizing for his in
dignation and hippantly suggesting that
in future they should revise each others
proofs to avoid further risks
Viii you accept the small volume which send
herewith as peace offering? 1t is my first at
tempt at novel, just published. My excuses
must be % that it is short; 90 that naturally
have a feeling Of fellowship with the author of
| The Carbuncle," and 80 that-with the above
notable exccption-I genuinely admire your
/ work and would value your criticism accordingly
The qualities which | enjoy most in your writ
! ing-the extreme delicacy and suhtlcty-have led
me 10 guess that your masculine title is assumed
! II am mistaken, it will be my first error in
judging the sex OF a writer, and should be apol-
ogeucally yours, JONI GlppENs
L. f. Cornish allowed the lapse of
week before returning thanks for the book.
Il waited to read it, contrary to my gen
eral rule, was the reason given. borne out
by most careful criticism and most I'M
] common praise. THE book has appealed
to me more strongly perhaps than any
other modern novel. | hardly dare or
care to tell you latter what has already
/ passed between us) that the plot is almost
identical with one which | have been Sc
cretly nursing in my mind for years.
/ But so it is. 1t gave me the oldest sen
sation-as if my thoughts had somehow
escaped my brain or had been stolen from
me. | had a moment of senseless rage"
And toward the end of the letter: "Of
course you are right about my name and
sex being assumed. but you are the first
/ hn hnG bod \
discretion. | am sure that safely may.
! There are reasons why this should be of
! Importance to me- As to your feeling of
fellowship. how should one not feel drawn
toward an intellectual twin? |, for my
part, am frankly curious to know more Of
yourself as well as of your work Will
| you let me? Remember that | know
nothing of your personal history beyond
your address, and that | am no less curl
Gus than the rest of my sex"
Whcreon John Giddens showed himself
no less tlatterabe than the rest of his sex
by replying with a long letter, delicatcly
! personal. a trihe sentimental in parts.
but with high lights of humor that must
have appealed particularly to Il. f. Cor
nish, if sympathy in humor goes for any
thing. And of course there was a counter
petition for personal information. There
is always a satisfaction he ended, I'm
seeing a portrait of any one of whom we
have wildly imagined. May not see
portrait of you-a sketch. a photograph
anything that can give me the faintest
clew? intend faithfully to return it. If
you refuse, you must, of course bear my
| differences"
81 haven't got one photograph of my
self that | would show to a stuffed cat"
answered e. +. Cornish, but to stihe in
ferences | must tell you that there will be
at least two portraits of me in next years
exhibitions Il am victim of painters),
and those you shall. sec and know. Tell
me, meanwhile, what your Imagination
+ has painted me. Describe me. | will de-
scribe you by way of encouragement.
You are of medium height. A trihe sal
low. Short, brown beard. and | think,
grayish eyes. a sensitive mouth-almost
femininely so-and very white hands
You are not strong. physically, and yor
are thin and stoop a little. You are
emotional and a bad sleeper. There.
Send exhaustive corrections and forgive
ness as soon as you like" A short and
! whimsical lament on the "abysmal diff
cultics' that beset the work of a young
! girl who is writing entirely in secret
closed the letter.
Dark" John Giddens painted her in
his reply, with straight brows and full
lips, a strong, self reliant face and up
right figure. Large and rather restless
eyes with a bit of the devil in them
Age about twenty-five. but sometimes
three. \ little bit too wealthy for your
own happiness as an artist, a little bit
spoiled 10y worldly admiration. Heavens
how | shall trembe before your next let
teri"
The next letter was already a certainty
From now they wrote constantly. letters
that slipped gradually into intimacy. let
tiers full OF kindred humor. often frankly
personal.
1t was John Giddcns who at last. after
two months Of this correspondence ap-
preached the question Of meeting. till
then carefully avoided why should we
remain mere paper friends when fate so
clearly intended more? Think Of all we
may be foregoing: or, better still think
not at all. but send me a simple. trustful
Yes
And she did send by return a colossal
"Yes" that occupied the whole of the first
page. On the second came instructions:
"Iet it be AT the British museum for re.
spoctablityi by the Elgn marbles flor in.
spirationl next Tuesday afternoon at
o'clock And, to avoid assaulting the
wrong people, let each wear a yellow
, orchid in my dress, you in your coat
4 II >