The Count of Crow's Nest
The Count of Crow's Nest is a short story by Willa Cather. It was first published in "Home Monthly" in October 1896. Plot summary. At the Crow's Nest, a boarding house, Count de Koch and Harold Buchanan talk about literature. Once, Harold shows a book he has, with what he hopes to be Lola Montez and Ludwig I of Bavaria's signatures. The Count takes out letters of his by these two historical figures, only to prove that it is not the latter's signature, although it is Lola's. The Count 's daughter comes in and says these letters should be published. She makes fun of her father's superseded aristocratic stance, and says she would lean towards the bourgeoisie. The two men agree to see her sing sometime later. After her performance, which Harold deemed to be very poor, the Count leaves and Harold is invited to dinner with Tony and she. Then, she asks him to collect her father's letters and edit them into a book, to make money. He refuses, and is shocked by her mercenariness. Later, the Count walks into his friend's room in the  middle of the night as his letters have vanished. They both go to Helena's and eventually gets them back. The Count expresses grave despair at his daughter's lack of honour, the end of the aristocracy. Literary significance and criticism. "The Count of Crow's Nest" was influenced by Anthony Hope's 1894 novel "The Prisoner of Zenda", which Cather liked a lot. Others have also pointed out the influence of John Esten Cooke's 1880 "The Virginia Bohemians". The story has been deemed Jamesian.