The story concerns the pursuit of a beautiful opera singer by a young, idle, clean-minded, extravagantly well-to-do American. Cortlandt, the young American hero, is a typical MacGrath creation. He is so rich that he cannot get rid of his money fast enough. No love-plot was ever more original. Clearly this is one of the best of MacGrath's stories.
Harold MacGrath (1871-1932) was an American author and screenwriter born in Syracuse, New York. He is best-known for his adventure, mystery, and spy stories, especially The Puppet Crown (1901). Starting as a journalist, he also contributed several of his short stories and novels to various magazines. After his first novel, Arms and the Woman (1899), he published The Puppet Crown, The Million Dollar Mystery (1915), and The Blue Rajah Murder (1930). He died at the age of 61.
Excerpt
Courtlandt sat perfectly straight; his ample shoulders did not touch the back of his chair; and his arms were folded tightly across his chest. The characteristic of his attitude was tenseness. The nostrils were well defined, as in one who sets the upper jaw hard upon the nether. His brown eyes—their gaze directed toward the stage whence came the voice of the prima donna—epitomized the tension, expressed the whole as in a word.
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