Jasper County Democrat, Volume 7, Number 52, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 1 April 1905 — Did Dickens Use This Story? [ARTICLE]

Did Dickens Use This Story?

On one occasion, when Dickens and James Fayn were “swapping” stories, relates James MacArthur in Harper’s Weekly, Payn told the following curious incident to the author of “David CopperfieldPayn, it seems, was returning to his home one summer night through a fashionable street near Piccadilly when a sudden thunderstorm caused him to take refuge under a portico which commanded a view of one of the fashionable houses across the street. As he stood looking into the lighted drawing room a lady dressed In a ball gown appeared at one of the open bow windows, and at the same moment a man who looked like a beggar ran across the street and stood under the window. The lady threw out to him her bouquet. He caught it and, nodding twice to the figure above him, ran off at full speed. Dickens was greatly interested in this story, and the question Is asked whether he ever made use of the incident in any of his novels.