The Late Conspiracy

# Sophia—Dramatic Agent / The Late Conspiracy

This magazine issue contains two serials. "Sophia—Dramatic Agent" follows Sophie Deland, a wealthy woman conducting a philanthropic experiment in poverty who discovers a brilliant young playwright named Marcus Gilroy living in poverty after losing his fortune. Sophie brings Gilroy's war play "Captain Cant of the 49th," concerning the Boer War, to the attention of her cousin Tom Westgate, a prominent actor-manager. The play succeeds dramatically; critics praise its dialogue and realism. The serial concludes with Gilroy and Sophie reunited at the theater premiere.

"The Late Conspiracy," by Eleanor M. Ingram, is a political thriller set in the fictional kingdom of Pyrenia. A royal heir named Gerald is confronted by Baron Visot, secretly president of a republican secret society called the Counsel of Freedom. Visot reveals their conspiracy to establish a republic and offers Gerald the position of first president, threatening assassination if he refuses. Gerald declines and accepts his death sentence to protect the current king and his fiancée Renée.