Secret Service / Being the Happenings of a Night in Richmond in the Spring of 1865

The Project Gutenberg eBook, Secret Service, by Cyrus Townsend Brady, Illustrated by The Kinneys
“If he wanted to fight, he’d hardly be in an office”
BEING THE HAPPENINGS OF A NIGHT IN RICHMOND IN THE SPRING OF 1865 DONE INTO BOOK FORM FROM THE PLAY BY WILLIAM GILLETTE By CYRUS TOWNSEND BRADY Illustrated by THE KINNEYS
NEW YORK GROSSET & DUNLAP PUBLISHERS
Copyright, 1912, by DODD, MEAD AND COMPANY Published, January, 1912
I DEDICATE MY SHARE OF THIS JOINT PRODUCTION TO
The many people of the stage, personally known and unknown by me, who have so often interested, amused, instructed, and inspired me by their presentations of life in all its infinite variety. They are a much misunderstood people by the public generally, and I take this occasion to testify that, in my wide acquaintance with stage people, I have found them as gentle, as generous, as refined, and as considerate as any group of people with whom I have associated in my long and varied career.
PREFACE
Once upon a time a novel of mine was turned into a play. The dramatist who prepared the story for stage production sent me a copy of his efforts toward that end. About the only point of resemblance between his production and mine was the fact that they both bore the same title, the hero in each had the same name, and the action in both cases took place on this earth.
I was a young author then, and timid. I ventured humbly to enquire why the drama differed so entirely from the novel; and this ingenious, I might almost say ingenuous, explanation was vouchsafed me:
“Well, to tell you the truth, after I had read a chapter or two of your book, I lost it, and I just wrote the play from my own imagination.”
I do not wish to criticise the results of his efforts, for he has since proved himself to be a dramatist of skill and ability, but to describe that particular effort as a dramatisation of my book was absurd. Incidentally, it was absurd in other ways and, fortunately for the reputation of both of us, it never saw the light.