Iowa County democrat. [volume] (Mineral Point, Wis.) 1877-1938, 1914-01-15

w Ctst tsNN N'N, StAN& w. I AltkNut(A
When the &rtetuE> We're over. "wr'Nc
been maMu& hay While the sun wasn't
shining liza. ha. White you have
been lost in y altl we have been reap
iuS a h- profit for you out OF Your
'Acrouaut.
That's u very good Joke" rcpacd
the author. "bUt don't know what
You mean Ivy THE Acreuaut
why. the novel YOU sent lis ut The
time you were leaNm& We have Il
check for Somc $4,000 for You for
royalties
Il sent YOU no manuscript rs | WAS
leaving. and | have never heard OF Il
novel called The Acrouaut
The two Chaudlcr brothers and the
Junior partner. who were standing
about smiling hcniguly upon the fl
nous author. suddenly lowered the cor
nrrs OF their mouths and looked ut
each other
Nonsense, old fellow" said chan
dlcr senior. Your modcsty has al
Ways stood IN Your way. You've writ
ten the biggest thing OF the year /
hope you're not going to deny IT,"
Nevertheless MIR, Hayes maintained
his druial and tiually got the story
Of how the manuscript came IL the
firm, its doubts about the identity
ot the author and other information.
lie called for Il copy ot the book, took
ii home with him and did not pause
after beginning till he had finished il,
The next day he returned to the pub
fishing house, was cloSctcd with the
+ head OF the firm and said
MIR Chandler. il does not reflect
much credit ON Your house that YOU
did not realize on reading this work
that | had not the ability to write it.
haven't either the imagination or the
ingenuity Moreover, YOU should have
known that ii was not written by u
man ana that 1t was written by we
man Some one cndeavorcd to get II
through by using my initials and sue
ccrdcd. with Il result far above any
thing | am capable of attaining. But
what surprises me is that whoever
the impostor may he she has not III
tempted TO reap the pecuniary reward
arising through her imposturc."
"Wait." replied Mr.. Chandler THAT
! will come in time"
| After prolonged interview MIR.
! Hayes departed, having obtained II
promise that if the impostor were dis.
covered he should be notified before
any action in the premises was taken.
( 4 lot hA hn, nH n
i telephone message that If he would
! call ut the office of Chandler Bros he
would hear something of the impos
ture that had been practiced on him
and on the firm. On arrival Mr.,
/ Chandler said To him:
"A lady named Helen Herbert some
time ago published through us II little
book of poems, on which we lost some
money. Since then we have heard
nothing from her till this morning
/ when we received this note"
He handed the note to Mr. Hayes
who read:
/ Messrs. Chandler Bros:
! Dear Sirs--On my departure for Africa
! about a year ago, where | have been witt
| n view to investigating whether the pyg
mics there are the same as mentioned by
the historian Ilerodotus, | sent you the
manuscript of "A novel called THE Aero
naut," hoping that you might use 1t dur
ing my absence. On n railway train | pur-
/ chased a copy OF the book published with
! your imprint. Why did you put my mi
/ tails on the title page instead of giving
| my fun name? | hear the story has been
! very generally read, and If you have any
! thing in the way of royalties to my credit
! | should be obliged If YOU would send me
check Cordially yours
! HELEN HERBERT.
Mr. Hayes looked up ut Mr.. Chandler
and met that gentlemans eyes fixed
on him with singular expression.
"This beats any theme | ever work
ed up" remarked the author
ITS the old story of truth being
stranger than fiction"
"And we stupids could only interpret
the mystery as an imposturc'
"NO imposture at all, nothing but u
commonplace occurrence"
IF YOU are about TO send the lady a
check | beg you to make me your mes
senger."
"CertainIy"
Mr.. Chandler tapped bell and called
for a check for the balance of Miss
Herberts account. II amounted to more
than $1,000 Mr.. Hayes took it ard
later called Mt the address the author
ess had given. When she appeared
Mr.. Hayes found her to be about TWEEN
ty-six years old, comely and with au
intellectual head.
Il have a check for you for royal
ties on your 'Aeronaut,' he said
handing it to her. from Chandler
Bros. They published il at your re
| quest. signed II. H. thinking ! had
written it. Had your name instead Of
my initials been attached to it, it would
not have been published ana might not
have got the start required to make II
"A success
THAT being the case" said the lady
this money belongs to you. ! will
make it payable 10 your order
at does not belong 10 me, for
| COul1 NOT have written the story II