Chapter 19

Toronto, Ontario

The autumn rain fell outside Owen and Leslie Ford's Toronto home.

Leslie put Kenneth and Persis to bed. Then she waited for Owen. He should be home tonight.

Owen had been deep into his work on the cave exploration book a few days ago when he received an ominous phone call. Mr. Twain requested that he come to Manhattan immediately.

At the time, Owen told Leslie that there was nothing to worry about. However, Owen could hide very little from Leslie.

In the 1880's, Mark Twain started his own publishing company. Twain hired a nephew through marriage, Charles Luther Webster, to head the company. The two eventually named the company Charles L. Webster and Co. Several years later, Mark Twain fired Webster as company head but kept the company name the same.

Charles L. Webster and Co. was the publisher to whom Owen sold his most recent novel. The very same novel for which Owen drew immense inspiration from Anne Blythe's Redmond College diary. Owen had already received an advance from the publisher for this novel. Owen expected to receive word on his novel's final edits. Owen did not expect to receive this summons to proceed to New York City immediately. Owen most definitely did not expect to receive word that none other than Mark Twain himself requested his presence.

Finally, Owen was home.

"Leslie, darling," he murmured, kissing her while taking care not to get her wet from his greatcoat.

Leslie helped Owen remove his coat. She handed Owen a cup of hot coffee. Owen had sworn off drinking and promised Leslie that he would try to be a better man.

"How was your visit with Mr. Twain, darling?" Leslie asked as Owen sat down.

"Darling, there's a lot to unpack here. So, Mr. Twain introduced to me a newly hired editor at Charles L. Webster. This editor is a former Redmond College English professor. This editor read my novel and spoke to Mr. Twain prior to our meeting. Apparently, this editor remembered that a former Redmond student of his held a deep fascination with the writings of Charles Dickens. This editor remembered that he penalized this student for, in his words, "trying too hard to emulate Dickens." This editor recalled that this Redmond student wrote several stories that took place in workhouses and the slums."

"This editor remarked to Mr. Twain that my novel strongly resembled the work that he had reviewed from that Redmond student. The Redmond student's name was Anne Shirley."

Owen stared at the floor. "Leslie, Mr. Twain and the editor questioned me on the source material for my novel. I admitted that I had in my possession a diary belonging to the former Anne Shirley."

"Mr. Twain told me that given the circumstances, my novel is unpublishable. They cannot take the risk of the former Anne Shirley bringing a plagiarism lawsuit against the company. At the same time, they already paid me the advance for this book."

Leslie gripped her hands in her lap.

"Leslie, Mr. Twain gave me two options. The first option is that I give up the advance. If I don't give up the advance, he can sue me for the advance. Such a suit could be expensive for both the publisher and myself. In addition, such a suit could bring public light to Twain's plagiarism concerns."

"Mr. Twain explained that from a public relations standpoint, it would be especially bad to plagiarize a female author. Mr. Twain has a niece named Jean - Charles Webster's daughter, actually - who is currently an emerging author in her own right. Apparently young Jean Webster blames Mr. Twain for her father's business failure. Mr. Twain has not made it a secret that he came to hate Charles Webster the man. However, he can't give his niece Jean any claim that he mistreats female authors. It could ruin the company."

Leslie gasped. "Owen, we can't afford for you to give back the advance. It's partly spent!"

Owen said, "I know, darling. Twain provided me with another option. It appears that the new editor was quite impressed with several sections of the novel. He believes that these sections could be published by themselves. That is, if the former Anne Shirley agrees to this. She would receive compensation and a writing credit, of course."

"So, Leslie, the deal is that Twain will agree not to seek repayment of the entire advance. However, I must secure permission from Anne to publish excerpts of this work."

"Oh, Owen. That's the best news that we can expect from this."

"I suppose." Owen sighed.

"What's wrong, Owen?"

"Well, Leslie, in order to seek permission from Anne, I will need to explain to her what I did with her diary."