ently discovered.

In Poe's story, Fortunato is chained to the wall of the vault, after
which he is literally walled up and buried alive. In "The New
Catacomb," the redresser of the wrong takes the evil-doer down into
the catacomb and leaves him while he finds his own way out by means of
a trail of cord, knowing that the other, unable to follow him, is
being left in what will be his tomb.

The dramatic intensity of Doyle's story is just as great as in that
written by Poe; the "hero" is as much deserving of our sympathy as the
"villain" merits our condemnation; and the treatment of the theme,
from first to last, makes Doyle's an absolutely original story,
although there is little doubt that it was suggested, or, at least
influenced, either by the one written many years before by the
American master of the short-story, or by Balzac's remarkable tale
referred to above.

The discriminating photoplaywright will have no difficulty in making
the application of this illustration of how an original story may grow
out of an old theme. _But be careful not to turn this liberty into an
excuse for adhering closely to a borrowed theme._

_2. Plagiarism_

In justice to writers in general it is only fair to believe that most
cases of plagiarism are quite unintentional. The fault usually is in
the writer's memory. Turn your eye inward, and form the habit of
tracing the origin of your inspirations--sometimes it may chagrin you
to find how near to unconscious imitation you have been. You may get
the inspiration for a story and write it; it may be accepted and
produced; then, after its release, some friend will casually remark
that it reminds him of a Vitagraph picture that he saw a year or two
ago. And only after he has called your attention to it do you realize
that that Vitagraph story, seen and forgotten, _was_ the source of
your "inspiration"--and perhaps you have committed an unconscious
theft.

In an earlier chapter we have urged photoplaywrights to keep in touch
with the market so as to avoid writing on trite themes. But that
practise will not help the conscious plagiarist. Why should he invent
a new twist when he can steal one? This would seem to be his
short-sighted logic. Fortunately, there are not many unscrupulous
writers who deliberately attempt to sell to editors stories which are
simply adaptations of more or less well-known stories or plays. A
great deal has been said about editors and their assistants being
fami