Show I 1 m TH LOS LOST PIOT PLO 0 bj LILY A LONO LONG L 7 I 1 r s i k I 1 1 11 I 1 bul 1 eva I 1 0 1 IL lz I 1 I 1 I 1 I 1 1 I I 1 I 1 I 1 I 1 7 i I 1 I 1 I 1 1 I 1 i it I 1 t A I 1 I 1 I 1 I 1 e N I 1 I 1 I 1 1 z I 1 17 1 I I 1 Z I 1 4 11 1 9 N IN ca cre caric ric nc caught his hand for nin nine months of the year lake sophia indulged in a beauty sleep sometimes indeed one of her summer visitors would linger on into the early autumn to catch from nature that drop propof of sentimental melancholy which crowns the cup of happiness and sometimes a sentimental sportsman sp would build a bonfire on its banks in winter with a view to teaching the guileless fish how treacherous are tho the ways of men but in general the wild things of the woods and waters had it all their own way from september to june while the deserted summer hotel stood like a three stoned storied homily in green and white paint on the vanity of human pursuits but when the ephemeral northern summer flashed itself upon the lake it brought gay parasols to astonish the roses and the hotel now that at last it had an audience forgot to preach and betook retook itself to entertaining maunce maurice came had managed to make away pleasantly with a few weeks there one january BO so in default of anything better to do he be let himself drift back the following august presto chancel ch angel ho lie thought to himself as be he tried on the evening of hio his arrival to renew his acquaintance wito the locality like her namesake in the old vicars story she only needed a new set of ribbons to turn her into a coquette instead of the white solitudes with their secrets of rest the groups common to lakeside resorts were wandering about trying to do their duty by the sunset here were children laden with flow flowers ers already faded young women brought up on sentiment and young men trying it for a two weeks vacation la cation time business men talking stocks and markets as a relaxation from the unaccustomed strain of df enjoying themselves anxious mothers secretly longing for the rest of home with hero here and there some serene soul enough at leisure from itself to receive the blessing of nature came wandered along a bypath noting all v with ith careless eye till his unconcern was suddenly scattered by the familiar appearance of one of the approaching pro aching figures by his melancholy usage visage it should be mark liddell but by his environment any one but he recipe recluse that lieras lie AS could hebe he be trying toen to enjoy himself after the fashion of ordinary mortals it if so the experiment could hardly have been called successful for dejection spoke from every fold of his limp seersucker and his hat drooped over his eyes in an openly disconsolate manner came caught his hand 1 mark old fellow how did it happen how did you of all an people come to lose your way into this place liddell looked up with the air of one too deeply sunk in woe to feel surprise oh I 1 was here before these folks came I 1 realize the dangers of the situation until it was too late and they were upon me I 1 can blame no one but myself and you have been doing that very effectually I 1 should judge do you know w when hen I 1 first saw you I 1 was wild enough to fancy for a moment that you had at last concluded to take some good advice about coming out among human beings and studying your raw material before working it up into your books I 1 suppose I 1 was all at sea eh eb I 1 you certainly were isyou if you thought that I 1 would ever willingly or wittingly put myself into a comer corner of the globe where half ft a hundred of them could crowd around me at once they fairly suffocate ate me 1 I hope you ou wont let the fact that I 1 happen to belong to the human rice race place any awkward restraint rt on the free expression of your our feelings just go on as though 1 were not here murmured came reassuringly you are different you are not so aggressively alive as theo these jerky people huml you intend that as a compliment so I 1 will try to be grateful though privately remembering the place to which certain good intentions are irre proverbially prever bially consigned but some ow one is coming this way or some two rather let me gently suggest that we withdraw from tha the enemy and seek a solitary spot whew you can breath your woes boes and berate humanity bu manity at a safe distance but liddell with a eort sort of bori fied fascination was watching the self absorbed loungers loun gera who approached and shook off the arm of his friend they look like lovers dont donit they ha he asked with bated breath and they will have to pass us go on talking say something anything and dont mind it if I 1 dont listen I 1 must hear what they are saying dont you understand sis ills sunken eye was w as glowing with suppressed excitement but the wary young people were watering place graduates graduate a with a reserve stock ot of subjects warranted strictly imperial tp to supply necessary breaks in conversation vema ion do you ou admire herbert spencer S pencer saed asked she as they came within earshot spencer he is the evolution thory man raan irant her he 1 Is lis le or he her sh I 1 asked mock in gly oh viell well you ou know I 1 dont pretend to keep up with you on those things it ot fair for you to try to trip me they th e y were out of range by this time and nd maurice turned to bia his friend 8 severely t if your reason for shunning society in general mark is the consciousness s of an impulse to turn eavesdropper on the slightest occasion I 1 shall respect your principles hereafter and I 1 only illy regret that sou you have ever every been beell doted to tp forget them 0 hey 9 gog ITi rough lovers lane cried liddell unheedingly we might intercept them there it a lane and no lovers not hypnotized by a hotel pro epentus would dream of wandering through it but I 1 have found as a matter of fact that they do here I 1 know a place where we can hear everything that is baid said without being 11 II seen ourselves mark man what has taken possession of you liddell looked up in surprise and saw raw by tha the look in his friends face that it was time for him to clear his character it eo so bad as that maurice I 1 am ain trying to recover something that la is either lost or stolen and detectives must not be hampered by conventional moralities what have you fostr lost A plot tho the plot of my last novel I 1 came down here a few weeks ago to work because this is the quietest place in tha the world before it becomes fashionable but I 1 became too absorbed and lost count of the time one morning I 1 looked out and found the ground covered with people I 1 ought to have retreated then but I 1 was deep in a critical chapter and I 1 rashly determined to risk it and stay till I 1 got that particular inspiration down on paper well I 1 paid for it I 1 took my portfolio down to a rustic seat which I 1 had come to look upon as my peculiar property and tried to pay no attention to the inane multitudes who sauntered and flirted on every hand I 1 reviewed my work up to the point I 1 had then reached I 1 glanced mentally over what remained to do everything was in perfect order then I 1 settled down to work my tho thoughts ug ats must have wandered a little for my conscience presently aroused me with the feeling that iwas I 1 was wasting my mom ing I 1 drew my papers toward me and could think of nothing my plot was gone absolutely and beyond recall do you mean you had forgotten it forgotten forgotten how do you define memory oh if you arc are going into metaphysics I 1 surrender at discretion the custodian of mental property conveys the idea it well a certain part of this mental property passes from the possession of this custodian it cannot have been lost that is to eay ray annihilated the fact that it once existed proves that it must always exist if not in one form then in another it if not here then somewhere else now under what conditions can mental property exist manifestly only in the mind of some person therefore if an idea has passed out of my mind you cannot escape the logical conclusion that it must have passed into the mind of someone else then your theory is that your missing plot has fastened itself upon the unsuspecting brain of some poor fellow who came out here for rest I 1 dont wonder you are anxious about it just fancy the victims bewilderment amazement horror at BO so sudden an inroad of ideas was it a very exciting plot mark no it was to be a realistic story that is the worst part of it anyone any one might use it up unconsciously without ever suspecting that it was not his own of course if he lie were to put it into a book I 1 could identify it I 1 feel very sure I 1 should recognize it at sight but the great danger is that the present possessor will simply squander it on his own life he ile will use it up on some flirtation probably where anyone any ono of a dozen commonplace mon place ideas would have served as well ah ali then yon you bad had just readied reached the flirtatious stage of development my hero and heroine had been parted by a quarrel an idea of course that had been utilized before but they were to be brought together in a very original and unique manner the idea that is gone i it is to be devoutly hoped then that the plot selected some bachelor to experiment upon it makes my hair stand on end to think what tha consequences may be if an idea in that particular stage of development should attack some young man say who had taken the opportunity while off with the old love to get on with a new he would be bound to follow out the plot he and make up with the old oli whet herfie wanted to or not mark you dont know what complications you may be responsible for you must recover that dangerous plot at once li 0 t I 1 I 1 4 n I 1 11 I 1 11 I 1 i I 1 I 1 I 1 I 1 I 1 15 12 I 1 I 1 I 1 I 1 I 1 1 I L 1 M 1 I 1 g 53 5 3 clr Z 1 1 I 1 Il hush interrupted liddell T warningly liddell his head hopelessly 1 I have done all I 1 can perhaps you yon can suggest something you need nt think I 1 have been idle I 1 have hovered over the sentimental looking young people lik like e a dozen duennas duennes rolled into one I 1 have had to be up in time for the abnormally inquisitive damsels who wanted to see the enn sun rise I 1 have had to row for sun blistered water lilies like a personified sund sunday sy school picnic and when peaceful e evening fell do yon you think I 1 could rest my weary limbs and seething brains braine no forsooth I 1 must linger in the dark places of the piazzas and inhale cigarette smoke or risk tny neck and take certain cold on some slippery bank which happened to be moonlit do you read novels maurice did it ever occur to you that halt half the characters in halt half the books would be no better than escaped lunatics with their adventures and their episodes it if you let them out from between covers but this experience has taught me a lesson I 1 shall never choose a romantic heroine heroin 6 again never oh h come rather rough on your li heroes eroes III 1 I must have some re regard gard for the author aa as well as tor for the hero it will limit my opportunities to be sure but lint it is more prudent you are only looking ing from the outside maurice and yon you think that characters can bo be herded like sheep with a lead pencil crook but I 1 tell you they are skittish cattle to deal with before they are locked up in tho the printers print ert form Ill have avle you oa thought of employing di do I 1 I 1 I 1 1 1 1 11 I 1 L I 1 they lack instinct how about offering a reward 1 I have thought of that but I 1 would simply be deluged with ideas from rejected contributors that to be risked you manage to throw off an antidote idea which would follow up the first and counteract it hush interrupted liddell warningly as the dip of a pair of came to them through the twilight there are some people rounding the point in lit a boat I 1 keep still you may put your fingers in your ears it if yon like maurice but I 1 am going to hear what they say the shadows bad had fallen u unperceived on the shore but the lake lay in ina a luminous glow of its own the two persons in the boat fancying themselves secure in a solitude of waters could not suspect that the sky had turned itself into a great whispering gallery to betray thera them it was a girls voice tangled in with the plash of the water that came first to the shore you cant be said to be si ki a particularly conversational mood this evening she abe remarked saucily you really dont seem to have a thing to say for yourself if 1 I might have if the conditions were different he lie answered ar slowly ohl I 1 thought you were going to say if the subject were not so poor the sculls fell into the water with a sound that somehow suggested the of a it door 1 I wish you had waited for aunt nannie and ind lieutenant fulton the girl went on with unruffled sweetness he ile is always entertaining he has a peculiarly delightful gift for making himself agreeable we can go in whenever you like yes but but the lake is very pleasant just at thia this hour III I 1 11 1 I 1 I 1 I 1 I 1 I 1 V I 1 I 1 I 1 xa I 1 I 1 I 1 f I 1 I 1 I 1 i I 1 I 1 I 1 1 11 A 1 I vc 11 I 1 started to his feet the lake evidently enough to stir the sullen boatman to eloquence foi fol be he made no reply and presently the girl began to sing softly to herself she had a childlike voice appealing by the very quality of its untrained sweetness and ahne sang a little song that held the merest trifle of a melody but which fitted the twilight and the lake as the birds notes note did but after a it moment she interrupted herself with a sudden exclamation oh my rosel my poor rose is floating awall dont lean over so the boat wont trim baid the man 1 I should think you might at least make a pretense at a rescue she pouted reproachfully why you say you wanted it it you did of course I 1 would get it rather a stupid one he liddell resist whispering he ile spoils all her cues it is all wet and draggled dragg led said the enforced rescuer as he fished out the rose what did you want it for you can get fresh ones when yon YOU gc gg in liddell would not believe his eara earl did lie to give it to her maurice he did do you hear he ile gave her the rose instead of keeping it he is worse than the public pubic but I 1 wanted this particular one I 1 won it in a wager with lieutenant fulton the girl retorted with a suggestion of defiance in her tone that adds to its value doubtless oh immensely you consider that a living sample gample of what we call a forced laugh laughe liddell whispered eagerly carna came frowned for silence but it is faded and spoiled with the water as you said she added after a moment like everything else beautiful it keep its beauty for more than an hour it worth wearing after all ao so goodby poor flowery flo werl voice choked with unshed tears ejaculated liddell have yon thrown it away after insisting upon my getting it for yon commend me to a woman for consist encyl and be he thinks himself a hero does liddell 11 1 1 I 1 her he demanded ironically hope she will break liis his heart for him will yon you take me in now she asaei quietly it is growing gm ing cold 1 I offered to take you in ion long ago oh go on murmured liddell vindictively it if the scheming adventuress does not marry you in the end there is no poetic justice in the case there was a longer silence than be fore and then the girls 6 eirls voice with a it strange mixture of f resentment and pleading in it said Jo johnl hill well 1 11 I wish you yon be so stiff and uncomfortable 1 I am sorry my mai ner please you you say you are sorry but if you yon re really ally were wem couyou say it in it th that atway way you charge me then with saying what I 1 dont mean oh you are unfair you yon wont understand der stand me it waa was just so the other day and it is most moat unreasonable and unkind of you to insist upon quarreling |