(_A Story of the Merry Yule-Tide Season._)
_Publisher's Sanctum._ Publisher _and_ Author _discovered in
conference_.
_Publisher._ And so I thought that, perhaps, with your kind assistance,
we might work off some of the blocks that have been left on our hands
under the unfortunate circumstances I have just related.
_Author._ Certainly. Quite easy. You want to get a Christmas Number out
of them. All right--give me the subjects, and I will just jot down how
they shall be worked in. We will commence--hero and heroine--say, for
the moment, _Edwin_ and _Angelina_.
_Pub._ (_looking at pictures_). I fancy this is intended for somewhere
in the neighbourhood of the North Pole. Sailors surrounded by white
bears on an iceberg.
_Auth._ Very good. _Edwin's_ father was an Arctic explorer. Write under
sketch, "The old man had many a startling adventure in the silent land
of eternal snow." Go on.
_Pub._ Here is, seemingly, a quarrel to the death, in the time of
CHARLES THE SECOND. Ball-room, with Cavaliers and their Ladies. Central
group, a fight with swords. Can we do anything with it?
_Auth._ Why, certainly. _Edwin_ excites the jealousy of _Angelina's_
cousin _Reginald_. The latter calls out the former at a fancy-dress
dance. Label it--"_Captain de Courcy_ was too impatient to wait until
the ball was over, but challenged his rival as the company were on the
eve of going down to supper." Drive on!
_Pub._ This seems rather a puzzle,--a ship sinking in mid-ocean.
_Auth._ The very thing. _Edwin_ having lost all his money on the Stock
Exchange, goes to Australia for more gold. Label--"The storm was
terrific, and the _Belgravia_ had much difficulty in weathering this
gale of almost unprecedented violence". Next, please!
_Pub._ Why here are some sketches of Venice, St. Petersburg, China, and
North Wales.
_Auth._ I can take them _en bloc_. _Edwin_ and _Angelina_, before they
return home, go upon a honeymoon. Work them all in. Anything else?
_Pub._ A man being shot by a company of French soldiers. Is that of any
use?
_Auth._ First-rate fate for the wicked _Reginald_. Goes to France during
the Franco-German War as a Special Correspondent, and is shot as a
Prussian spy. Couldn't be better. Anything else?
_Pub._ A village crowd looking at a representation of "Punch and Judy."
_Auth._ Obviously a recollection of _Edwin's_ schooldays. Label
it--"Sometimes he would join the crowd, watching an exhibition of
perambulating puppets." Anything else?
_Pub._ A man being thrown from his horse into a brook.
_Auth._ All right! _Angelina_ first falls in love with _Edwin_ when
nursing him after an accident in the hunting-field. Label it--"His horse
swerved, and _Edwin_ was thrown with great violence into the water."
Anything else?
_Pub._ A man with a dark lantern looking, I think, at a mile-stone.
_Auth._ _Reginald_, before his death in France, tries to enter
burglariously the dwelling-house of his hated rival. Label--"The
misguided wretch paused for a moment while he examined one of the
mile-stones." Anything further?
_Pub._ Only two. Which shall we have, a happy or a wretched ending?
_Auth._ Either you please. One's as easy as the other. What are they?
_Pub._ First a man dying in the prairie is threatened by a vulture.
_Auth._ Evidently _Edwin_. You see, we have already disposed of the
wicked cousin. What is the other?
_Pub._ Oh, the conventional thing--bridal party in a village church. I
wish we could use both.
_Auth._ So we can. Cut down bridal block, and punch out enough of sky in
prairie to make room for it. Then give the legend, "And _Edwin_ died
happily, for in his vision he saw his love once more as he had hoped to
see her. With his last breath he blessed her as she stood beside him at
the altar." That will do, and then I can finish off with, "Who knows
they may not meet again? THE END."
_Pub._ And now I want to ask your opinion about some trade
advertisements. I want to know if we can work them in?
[_Scene closes in upon arrangements of a business-like
character._
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