The story
“When Harold Hargreaves wrote the satirical society novel, Like Lowing Kine, he had achieved even more success than he had contemplated. For Harold, despite his name, was a shy, sensitive chap, and could not be a social lion, even if he had desired to be. Therefore it made him unhappy to receive invitations galore, flowers and mash notes. Also to find reporters and photographers lurking on his front door step all hours of the day or night. Under the circumstances he decided to take refuge in flight, and sought conclusion in the seashore hotel, where he modestly registered as ‘John Jones of Bayonne, N.J.’ For a time he found that he was unknown, but then exposure came. A woman, once young, unmasked him, but consented to keep it his secret at his earnest request. Under the circumstances he could not refuse to be polite to her, and she was his companion on many trips when he would have preferred to be alone.
“On one of these excursions they were unfortunate enough to be on an island and did not notice the rising tide until it was too late to return to the mainland. The woman wept, but really did not mind. Her name was Arabella Snaith and she would have preferred to change it to Mrs. Harold Hargreaves. Consequently when they had returned to safety she informed the unhappy man that she had been put in a false position and that only marriage could set her right in the eyes of the world. Hardly knowing what he was doing, he consented, but later regretted it. She had told him that only death could part them, so he decided to die—but only so far as she was concerned. There was a mock funeral, and the author, in disguise, acted as his own minister. Then to his horror, he found that the fickle Arabella Snaith had transferred her affections to him in his new incarnation. He began to feel that Arabella would annex him after all, but being a resourceful man, as all good novelists must be, he decided to hire a substitute. His choice fell upon a friend who was hard up, and ready to do anything for money, as he frequently boasted. The author gave him a chance to make good, the hardest test he could think of, but the friend ‘made good.’ Arabella Snaith changed her name, but she is not Mrs. Hargreaves. She is the wife of his friend, and the friend was happy for a time, as Harold gave him a big sum of money for a wedding present. For the beautiful curved lines of the yellow-backed bills made him forget the lack of curves which were marked in the case of the once, perhaps, fair Arabella.”
Summary from The Moving Picture News · 20 April 1912
