Purchase of this book includes free trial access to www.million-books.com where you can read more than a million books for free. This is an OCR edition with typos. Excerpt from book: CHAPTER III The Forgetful Idealist Edward John Moreton Drag Plunkett, eighteenth baron of Dunsany, one of the foremost dramatists and poets of his age, slipped into New York City late in the fall of 1919, quite unannounced and unheralded. Had it not been for some enterprising publicity agent, he would have remained there at his leisure, far from the madding crowd, until the time came for his return to the Emerald Isle. When it became known in newspaper circles that Dunsany had arrived and was concealed on the eleventh floor of the Belmont Hotel, a covey of reporters sprang from apparently nowhere and attached themselves to the hotel lobby. Compared with "covering" the late Mr. Caruso's operations and illnesses, the siege of Dunsany was many times more forceful, and equally non-productive. For hours at a time one walked the lobby, kept watch over the elevators and side entrances, and endeavoredto get in touch with the shy Irish peer over the wires. The bellboys, the elevator operators, the telephone girls and the clerks soon began to detest the very sight of us, and yet the siege continued. After the fourth day, a plan was formulated and a council of war decreed upon. It was decided that we should all draw lots the following morning and that the two men drawing the shortest pieces of paper would be elected to climb the inside fire-escape, in an attempt to dodge the floor clerk and reach the floor of the bashful poet. It was further stated that the men who did it, if their mission should prove successful, would be permitted to keep the general text of their material and "beat" the others on the story. The next morning two newspaper men set forth. None of the others pretended to take any notice and yet each man was secretly wishing in his heart that the two elected to ful...