The Manning times. [volume] (Manning, Clarendon County, S.C.) 1884-current, 1905-09-20
4 TRUE TALE
That Reads Like the Fiction We
Find in Story Books
REAL LIFE TARGEDY

; REAL LIFE TARGEDY
La the City of Rome Which Very Nearly
Parallels the Most Improbable Lit.
erary Plot of the Neval,
The Masquerader," Not
Long Written.
The following emarksble story we
take fron the New York American:
Impossible, but interesting" peo-
pie sad when shey read The Mas
Qoerader," Katherine Cecil Tlu,ston's
successful novsl, In which two men not
related, but looking absolutely alike,
change places. And now, to justify
her imagination, to prove that the
novelist's dream was not only interest
ing, but possible real, be has come to
the rescue.
In Rome the situation that formed
tho plot OF The Masquerader' has
besn duplicated. 4 nobleman, Count
Andriano Beniculu, finding valet
who resembled him narvelously, en-
ployed him as his double. The valet,
Paolo, impersonassd his master, as all
sorts of social functions. He iEa sateG
his manners and grsces TO perfection;
he walked like him and talked like
him, and, even as the duel impersona-
tors WHO made THE Nasqueradsr"
the talk OF the literary world, decsiv-
ed not only the Counts friends: but
his wife as well.
AS in ''Ihe Na>q1ersder," the i'm
personator falls in love with the wife
OF his double. and 1t is jealouSly Of
woman that assists in the denouenent.
But In real life the denouement Is
tragedy. R.sl life is not accommodat-
,rg. The right man rarely dies to
make the end OF situation pictures
que, happy, romantic.
The Countess Beniculli, lovely as
the wife Of John Chilcote Of THE
MasQ1eradar, committed suicide
chen che found that she had permit
ted q naonial to make love 50 her under
the euise Of her husband.
The poor. deceived wife is dead, and
Count Beniculn has appealed to the
courts Of Rome to avepge him. BE
charges that his valet took advantage
OF the position he had permitted him
to occupy and caused the dsath OF his
noble mistress.
10 THE Masquerader" is Is the NOR
ph1ne ester, John Chilcote, who dies,
the man who neglected his wife and
bis duties, leaving both to the care
aud attention Il his double, John
Yoder, the good, clever hero.
The novelist herself seems to realize
that the possibility Of the extraordi.
nary resemblance upon which she
bases her apparently tanciful plot, is
going to be much doubted and Ques-
toned, for she refers to 1t in the open
ing chapter in this fashion: by that
seem TOO mild for real life and yet be-
long to no other sphere, the two faces
were identical, feature for feature. 1t
seemed to each man that he looked
not at the face CT another, but at his
own face reflected in a fawless looking
glass;
Then, again, John Chilcote brings
up the subject OF Identity in CONVEX
sation with Lady Astrupp.
Chilcote picked up book that lay
between them.
'Osher mems shoesl' he read. a
novel, Of course?' "
she smiled. OF course. suca q
fantastic story. Two men change
Identities.
'sChilcote rose and walked back to
the mantlepiece,
" Changing identitiea:' he said,
with touch Of interest.
Yea; ohe man is an artist, the
other millionaire; one wants 10 know
whas fame Is Ike, the other wants to
know how 1t feels to be really, sinfully
rich. Sc they exchange experience for
a month" She laughed.
"Chilcote laughed as well. But how?
he asked.
'Oh, ! told you she idea was ab-
su,d. Fancy two peop'e 30 much alike
that ne;sher their friends nor their
servants zee any difference! Such a
thing couldn't be, could 1t? There are
likeneSses, but not freak nkenesses
like that"
The novelist plainly forssees that
the possibility Of such resemblance
as she makes the basis Of her plot Is
going to be questioned by the great
mass OF her public. Yet in Rome real
life upholds her most fanciful imaain-
ings.
The Count Adriano Beniculli Is Of
an old an6 respected family. BE him
self is bit eccentric, but zone the
les nobleman who has always NOV
ed in the highest social circles.
WINS vast estates on which he
entertained handsomely. He had, until
the tragedy which set all Rome talk
ing in horrifed whispers, a charming
wife whom he neglected shamefully.
Durirg her life this was said 30 be one
OF his eceentricities. Another was his
hobby OF collecting and repairing an
cient locks.
II you had asked in Rome some
months ago about the Count Ben!oulll
and his wife, you would have heard
these things and not much else. They
seemed commonplace enough and sc
doubtless they were until one day the
, Count looked upon Antinoro Paa'o anc
, saw that the man, though OF humble
origin, was educated and in appear.
ancs and manner marvellously like
himself.
| The Count had grown to find soc1e,