Rock Island Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1893-1920, 1906-01-12
DAILY SHORT STORY
AN INGENIOUS CRITICISM.

| entered and handed me u cara: MISS
Gwendolin Phipps."
| l had never heard of Miss Phipps,
and 1 especially object to being inter
rupted by visitors. SO / tried through
the servant to get rid of her. But
failed and finally received her.
was not sorry had done So for the
| moment she entered / saw that she
would make an excellent model for
Bessie Clifford, a character / was about
TO draw. She was a petite blond and
| as dainty as a canary. She came in all
| bushes and smiles.
Mr. Pendleton. I belieye-Paul Pen
dleton. Such lovely name for an au-
thor, and 1 notice you always select
| appropriate names for your charac-
| tiers"
please be seated, Miss Pisipps. and
tell me what / can do for yot1'
II came 10 thank you" she said.
| sinking into Il chair. her silk dress
dropping into graceful folds. but first
1 want you to tell me how you found
out the conditions between Wallace
and mySelf|
What conditions? What Wallace"
| wallace Ormsby. the hero of Your
last novel. The True Ring There it
| is and she held up a glitterng soil
| taire on the third finger of her left
| hand. 1T was very nice of you to
| transpose his name and call him Orms-
| by Wallace. But everybody knew all
| the same. AT least l and my best and
| truest friend. Ida Ross. did. But. then,
| she knew all about these troubles be-
| tween Wallace and me. And how you
| did hit off that mean thing. Irene Tew-
ney. You didn't call her by her right
name at all. but then you couldn't call
us all by our right names
My dear young lady, will you kindly
| tell me what you are talking about?'
why. about your plot for Tho True
Ring of course. You haven't told me
how you got hold of it. Ida declares
she didn't tell, and of course Wallace
couldn't lnve done so. Did hep
She looked at me with such n pretty.
curious expression 1 had half a mind
to admit that Wallace had given me
the whole thing but feared the false
hood might lead to complications, so
| said:
Il would like you TO tell me wherein
the plot of my True Ring comedies
with your own affairs"
Silence gives consent. l knew it
must be Wallace who told you. OF
course you had to promise him you
wouldn't say anything about 1t. Well,
Wallace and / We're lovers. just as
Ormsby and Caroline were In the book.
Then Irene Tewney, or Mabel Blake,
as you call her, wants him for herself
and interprets the family secret so as
to reflect on Caroline (me). Wallace. de-
spite the convincing circumstances. has
faith i'll me until he applies the test.
and Caroline gives the true ring of Il
real good, noble girl. The name is
splendid"
Great heavens Is this all there is
to that plot? Now 1 think it is about
all toe machinery on which / hung q
network of subtle interpretive philos-
ophy which I and high grade critics
consider uniquely Pendletonian.
You have not yet told me-" I said,
1.-THE denoument as it is in the real case
your case"
''Why, just as it is in the book, of
course. You didn't change it bit
Wallace applied the test exactly as
Ormsby did, and Responded Oblushing)
just as Caroline did,
lover read my novel and finding
similarity in my imaginary plot to his
own and your conditions concluded to
test YOU as he did?"
"Well. 1 declared i never thought of
that l wonder If he did?"
after all my character puts gen.
eral case that has occurred between
thousands of lovers. l admit there is
an art in this in the book that would
be impossible in real life, though it is
intended to represent real life
"Ormsby was perfectly lovely, and |
Wallace was perfectly lovely too. He |
didn't use the same words as Ormsby, |
but they were just as noble and good |
and sweet and NICE
I groaned. / had read hundreds Of /
criticisms on my book, but this was |
the first that struck me as ingenious. |
My critic was one moment slapping me |
in the face. the next paying me the |
highest compliments, at times doing |
both at once.
Miss Phipps,' l said, INSTEAD of |
your thanking me for bringing you |
and your lover together, which is all a |
mistake. permit me to thank you for |
this visit. 1t has created a revolution |
in me. Hereafter 1 propose to write
novels that will be enjoyed by simple.
ingenious people. Now, 1 want your
permission to use you under an as
sumed name in my next novel"
will you?" she cried. clapping her
hands. Twill you put me in? And
Wallace?" she added timidly.
'I'll put you in. AS to Wallace,
don't know him. so I couldn't though
would like to just to please you"
chatted with her for an hour get
ting excellent material. much CT which
went into my new story just as she
spoke It. L have struggled against
small sales of my books before. my
only recompense being the approval of