Show wt whims ims THE MAN WHO WOULD NOT v by HOWARD FIELDING fc choris W boot HE trouble with abbott said ellyard Hl lyard Is that he know anything not saying that to be hard him but because it 18 true he hag had a collece ed u catlon and he has read a great many books but his life has been so donoto noua and so narrow and his observation so deficient that he hag never seen anything ny thing out of the ordinary and he I 1 absolutely lacks credulity it he bad a T little it would help him his magazine needs it badly i 1 I should think he must be a queer II 11 port of man for an editor said miss leigh ellyard Hl lyard who had lived by his pen for ten years and had fought his way up to the level of a creditable success i was unable to agree fully with the young ladys remark not so queer as he ought ta be cat dhe youve no idea how hard it Is to make the average editor believe the truth about his fellow creatures modern craze for romantic fiction has been a great relief to some ot them r it has freed them from the duty of considering probability in a large part f of their magazines anything may have happened in the time of charlemagne or to the king of a realm that never existed but mark the stuff that Is located near home if your life or mine were as dull as that wed turn on the gas however he continued in regard to this particular story which abbott has rejected on account of the improbability ol 01 the leading incident the true criticism would have been that the matter of a confusing resemblance between twins Is so common and obvious an affair of earthly life that it has been overworked in fiction yet as the development was entirely novel and the clomax quite unexpected he paused in the attitude of one who listens 7 well upon my word he baidin a v lowhone low tone was he invited to call who abbott hes in the hall hla voice now millie treat him wel hes come to make an apology about that story receive it in the spirit in which it Is made precisely in the spirit in which it Is made do you under f the girl rose to her feet and abou t to speak but ellyard shook aj warning finger at her as he stepped ta f the door 1 l why abbott he cried how do you do the editor was a slender young man f very carefully dressed and precise ln his and his ways ho had dell aate features and a alch narrow tore head ats light hair was worn fulti lone betit was very smoothly brushe away from a parting accurately dradi along the middle of his head and all it superfluity appeared behind his ears aass leigh heard your voice sale ellyard Hl lyard she will be glad to see you it maybe somewhat informal tor me t HILYARD SHOOK A WARNING FINGER announce that fact and to lead you into her presence but sirs Wll sons boarding house lies just the boundary of bohemia abbott adjusted his eyeglasses and looked with mild dismay at ellyard Hl lyard lie considered himself to be upon bad the author on account of various small matters which ellyard had forgotten if indeed he had ever known that they had happened L it was a bold deed in abbotts way of thinking this call upon miss leigh scally he had not been invited it was a distinct lyan ly an adventure he had anything quite so rash before but then he hjad never met a girl capable of inspiring him q girl worth risking everything for and conventionality was everything ery thing to mr abbott if the adaven ture should end in disaster he would rather there be any other alt pesa than franklin billyard however he was in for it pow miss leigh you will remember mr abbott ellyard Hl lyard was baying the young lady came forward with some small hesitation it la very kind of you im sure said abbott taking her hand 1 I really have no reasonable excuse tor hunting you up but since you honored me with that visit the other day in my dingy sanctum shedding a brief light upon my dreary toll e so to speak how strange it Is said the girl that literary people always speak of their work as it it were terribly distressing beauy it must require a strong sense of duty to keep them at it do you not find it ao yourself abbott asked goodness exclaimed the girl you dont suppose that I 1 regard myself as a literary person 1 I surely think that you have the right responded abbott and that brings me to my only excuse for this intrusion I 1 have been thinking of your story and I 1 have been quite dissatisfied with what I 1 said about it the other day upon more mature reflect alon I 1 have become convinced that with a few trifling alterations it will be acceptable for the magazine please dont lets talk about it protested the girl we have talked of it so much here that surely you have not lost confidence exclaimed abbott but of course that Is natural the way of every artistic calling lies largely through the valley of the shadow As to this particular bit of work however I 1 assure you that it is very creditable and you will do yourself a wrong it you permit discouragement to destroy your faith miss leigh laughed nervously and glanced at ellyard Hl lyard neither my faith nor my discouragement are of much importance she said and my opinion about the story is of course worth nothing at all in such a presence as this but mr 1111 yard has read it indeed said abbott squinting through his glasses at the author his criticism should be of value mr hilyard has written a great many stories and some of them have been really excellent we have printed one now and then f when ive been at a club stag or a bachelor dinner said ellyard Hl lyard and wake up the next morning with that sad view of the dreariness and ness of life which comes to a fellow at such times I 1 always sit down and write a story tor your magazine there Is no limit to the eccentricities ot genius said miss leigh undoubtedly said ellyard Hl lyard but really abbott I 1 think youve made a mistake about in the light of the moon it Is a very clever story abbott put the ends 0 his fingers carefully together and gazed thoughtfully down at them then he looked up 1 I have been subject a stu alous attention he said and the result s that I 1 have become convinced that the matter of the resemblance between the two sisters may be entirely eliminated without detriment to the story indeed with positive benefit 1 I thought that the whole plot turned on it said miss leigh timidly assumes ace air of a aenlle and patient schoolmaster it Is true he said that a certain number of the incidents must be modi ned perhaps eveh excised but the plot Is quite a secondary matter in such a delightful bit of writing there will be enough action I 1 assure you and we shall be rid odthe jarring improbability involved in heros mistaking one of the sisters for theother the other it Is distinctly humorous of course I 1 smiled repeatedly while reading it and yet the tact remains that in real life we never find a similar state of affairs my dear mr abbott said ellyard Hl lyard in a house where I 1 boarded for two years there were twin brothers upward IT IS VERY KIND OF YOU IM SURE of forty years old who from their infancy had each other so closely that only their nearest intimates pretended to be able to distinguish other they were balled uncle and uncle wlllie in that house though neither of them was really named william night after night I 1 saw them sitting side by aide at the dinner able but I 1 never knew which was which for the one who came to table farst always took tho chair upon the right though I 1 should never have known it it the landlady told me they dressed precisely alike they were crowing gray in exactly the same degree and bald in precisely similar areas and it was said that not even their dentist knew ancl billy from uncle wllie oh I 1 say ellyard Hl lyard exclaimed abbott you are so terribly er imaginative 1 I am telling you the frozen truth responded ellyard Hl lyard moreover these brothers excited my interest in the subject to such an extent that I 1 investigated several cases of resemblance which they themselves happened to know of and I 1 found among other cu three sisters who were as much alike as three impressions from the same page of type and an uncle and nephew who were not only the precise images of each other but wrote exactly the same hand this Is a very trivial matter brother abbott but it contains a lesson tor you there are more things in this world that you wont believe than would fill your magazine with good stuff for a hundred years go outside your office and find some of them im afraid that I lack your enthusiasm said abbott you go out and see what you wish to see while I 1 see only what Is real and tangible but about this story miss leigh if you say another word about it cried the girl 1 I shall go into hysterics and you like that I 1 know you hysterics are so dreadfully realistic you are making fun of me replied abbott and yet he help perceiving that miss leigh was laboring under considerable excitement no no she exclaimed 1 I am as serious as I 1 can be it Is only with the greatest difficulty that I 1 can bring myself to speak of that story at all abbott was sincerely affected and not a little flattered in the more selfish regions of hs soul it Is a great grief to me he said that I 1 should have done anything to discourage you I 1 he paused and glanced toward hll yard who had strolled to the piano and was turning over the pages of some music 1 I wish that I 1 might help you abbott continued in a lower tone J have thought about you really I 1 would not dare to tell you how much the interest of the artist and of the friend also it I 1 may be so bold as to say so I 1 am sure that you have a great future under the proper influences and confidentially I 1 must tell you that mr Hll yards influence does not tall within that definition it it were permissible I 1 would venture to say that I 1 am sorry that you know him he isan apostle of strenuous literature era ture his stories are feverish he seems determined to hunt up something that nobody else ever heard of you must not be like him in any way it wreck your literary future bless my soul exclaimed the girl with an intensity that really suggested hysterical laughter 1 I have no literary future nor present nor past I 1 ant write worth accent ive tried nd I 1 cant do t it possible said he looking cleved upon one side of his face and leased upon the other that rny crit has seemed so harsh as to dl courage you I 1 am deeply sorry and trust that you will let me man amends its no use she protested 1 really any use at all let us tal about something else dont you thin that sir hilyard plays beautifully abbott glanced at bilyard ni lyard who ha begun to play softly upon the it was true that he placed very wel with a surprising quality 0 and the editors taste was cultivated to recognize the merit of th MR ABBOTT performance but just at that moment his soul did not thirst for mr IHl yards music it thirsted tor the gent lemans absence why hs go it was bad form for him to remain yet he showed no intention of leavene and even had the air of waiting with some specific end in view however it the fellow must stay it was at least kind ot him to make a noise with the piano my dear miss leigh said abbott 1 I am sure that you are making a great error I 1 ha failed to recognize the merit of your work I 1 merely drew attention to a crudity we are all liable to such mistakes al first but one impossible detail in your very first literary attempt Is a mere tride if you would only accept my help I 1 am sure there might be a future tor you in fiction cant we form a sort of friendly partnership call it master arid pupil it you will but you would have the dullest pupil that ever lived she cried and as for the story if I 1 had seen you said he your story would seem less able she did not understand what he meant and frankly abbott wan frightened he had apt act enough to evade an explanation and tie was afragia 0 o make ons this pret ly came ol 01 hearts was new to him aud it made him nervous yet he fn an J capable of stopping As a beada with the bicycle when he sees th expertness has brought him into J II 11 as seized with a frantic pedal aster and faster so aba plunged straight ahead though aba disaster lonnier loonier lo onier plainly in his having seen your face said could never believe in the advento the hero of your story do you fa that by sunlight or moonlight all to recognize M really mr abbott dont you blasl that our friendly partnership is au 1 l line along almost too well she aj ot course I 1 perceive that youil l speaking merely by way ot but if mr ellyard should hear you my sister there might be edae t misunderstanding your sister echoed abbott j yes said miss leigh she i just come in I 1 hear her in mr ellyard and I 1 nave been kafy for her f at this moment a young lady jl feared in the doorway fj why mr abbott she you cant have received my noten ready j abbott had arisen and was stans with one hand upon the back alth chair for support and the other against his forehead f your note he repeated lacally r 1 I mailed it this afternoon kaiatt girl advancing into the room buell suppose that you would before tomorrow however I 1 as glad to see you though my plan for your amusement has ibid spoiled no it begging your pars kate said ellyard Hl lyard it has to a charm ij you dont mean to say jl yes I 1 do said ellyard Hl lyard HS been talking to millie for an der the impression that she was youa 1 I greally this Is very remi riiS ble stammered abbott 1 I wona that you mention to me that I 1 had a twin sister very near it that day in your and then well ill confess like it because you think that I 1 was er when I 1 said that I 1 knew two who were as much alike as the my story so I 1 resolved to pla kiil trick upon you mr ellyard and lie and I 1 arranged a plan by which TOB were to meet her in such a you might easily be deceived resemblance between us me wont you the more especially because I 1 really do it 3 abbott was beyond words held nothing but a fierce wrath against hilyard whose revealed that condition to factly 1 youre right abbott he salay did it slay me and you will erly avenged when I 1 heard you in hall I 1 said to ailes whom I 1 had the great conversing at the time he haa com to talk about the story to what he says itha spirit in which it la uttered of course that she should rec elfelt a if it were addressed to hr she played the part to a it fun a rare sport said abbott avet clever gam an as I 1 seeni to betla loser I 1 duft baythe pay the forfeit for fejt tha ty print the story isyou so swi asto as to let me have it once more mis leagh publish 11 word for her iatter and then orthe lea said about all this the better biot rw think so |