Inside the Anglers’ Pub, Mr. Mulliner is drawn to the sounds of sobs by sensitive barmaid Miss Postlethwaite. Her tears are the result of reading a romantic novel—Rue for Remembrance—and Mulliner asks if she enjoyed it as much as the author’s previous works including the best seller Parted Ways. Mulliner informs the barmaid that the author of the story which has moved her to tears just so happens to be his niece his marriage. Whereupon, as it has been his wont in other stories in which he is featured, he relates a story about his family member.
His nephew, Egbert Mulliner, was working as an editor for The Weekly Booklover and was in a state of extreme agitation after having fulfilled an assignment requiring him to interview a number of different female novelists. In Egbert’s considered opinion, these writers were hardly deserving of such attention as their romance novels were badly written. By the end of the assignment, the last thing he wanted was to meet another female writer.
Which is why after meeting and falling for the lovely young Evangeline Pembury he was moved to make sure of one thing committing his heart: he had to make sure Evangeline possessed no desire to become a writer. When she confessed to having no desire he poured forth his heart and confessed his love. Immediately afterward, the effects of love produced the best game of golf that Egbert had ever played.
The effects for Evangeline was to sit down and write a novel.
Egbert’s profession of love inspired Evangeline to write Parted Ways and though it was quite badly written, it nevertheless managed to become a best seller as a result of a shift in the public’s taste. A move away from more explicitly sexual stories and back toward innocent love stories resulted in Parted Ways making a celebrity of Evangeline, but a mess of the relationship which provided most of the material for the story. (Egbert was Evangeline’s first love, you see.)
It was bad enough that Egbert had been betrayed. It was bad enough that now he found himself actually in love with a bad writer. But add into that mix that the story everyone was reading was based on his own private love life…how could things get worse?
Enter Jno. Henderson Banks, literary agent.
At first, Egbert was driven to jealous extremes by Banks. He co-opted all of Evangeline’s time which wasn’t already given over to the work of being a celebrity author. Things came to a head when Egbert pushed the issue, demanding that she no longer chum around with “this revolting piece of cheese.” To which Evangeline responded by summarily showing Egbert the door.
Some time later his editor informed Egbert of his latest assignment: interviewing Evangeline Pembury for the publication’s special Christmas edition. When he arrived, the previously beautiful and youthful woman looked thin and worn. What begins with a stiff and artificial informality soon collapses under the weight of repressed emotions. The two lovers emotionally reunite before Evangeline breaks down and confesses the truth about her situation.
Mr. Banks has been the demonic force that Egbert feared, but not in the way he assumed. In fact, Banks turns out to be an agency of demonic irony. In his capacity as agent, he has pressured Evangeline to write more than she is capable. In fact, she is incapable of writing at all. While she enjoys all the benefits of being a writer, she has discovered she does not actually like to write and so cannot possibly fulfill the commitments facing her.
And the lovers completely reunite thanks to Mr. Banks: upon marriage, Egbert will endow her with the three novels and twenty short stories he has written that were deemed so bad that no one would publish them.
