Plot It Yourself

Wolfe nodded. “Of course. There have been many masters of parody in the world’s literature. But you’re overlooking a vital point. As I said, the three stories that were the basis of the first three claims were all written by the same person. Or, if you prefer, put it that a comparison of their texts would convince any qualified student of writing, an experienced editor or writer, that they were written by the same person. You will either have to concede that or you will have to contend that when you wrote ‘There Is Only Love’ you either invented a style quite different from your normal style as in your book, or you parodied the style of someone else, call him Y; that when Simon Jacobs wrote ‘What’s Mine Is Yours’ he parodied either Y or your story; and that when Jane Ogilvy wrote ‘On Earth but Not in Heaven’ she parodied either Y, or your story, which had not been published, or Simon Jacobs’s story, also unpublished. That is patently preposterous. If you offered that fantasy in a courtroom the Jury wouldn’t even leave the box. Do you still maintain that you wrote ‘There Is Only Love’?”

“Yes.” But her tone was different and so were her eyes. “I have never seen those stories by Simon Jacobs and Jane Ogilvy. I still say you’re bluffing.”

“I have them here. Archie. Get them. Including Miss Porter’s.”

I went and got them from the safe and handed them to her, and stood there.

“Take your time,” Wolfe told her. “We have all night.”

Hers was on top. She only glanced at it, the first page, and put it on the stand beside the chair. The next one was “What’s Mine Is Yours,” by Simon Jacobs. She read the first page and part of the second, and put it on top of hers on the stand. With “On Earth but Not in Heaven,” by Jane Ogilvy, she finished the first page but didn’t even glance at the second. As she put it down I circled around her chair to get them, but Wolfe told me to leave them, saying that she might want to inspect them further.

He regarded her. “So you know I’m not bluffing.”

“I haven’t said so.”

“You have indicated it by your cursory examination of those manuscripts. Either study them as they deserve or yield the point.”

“I’m not yielding anything. You said you have an offer. What is it?”