Short Fiction by O. Henry

A Guess-Proof Mystery Story

Words you’ll meet in this part (2)
defy
To openly resist or refuse to obey authority.
synopsis
A brief summary or general overview of a subject, story, or plan.

Short Fiction by O. Henry 2 new words

A Guess-Proof Mystery Story

The most popular and recent advertising dodge in literature is the Grand Guess Contest Mystery Story. Everybody is invited to guess how the story will end, at any time before the last chapter is published, and incidentally to buy a paper or subscribe. It is the easiest thing in the world to write a story of mystery that will the most ingenious guessers in the country.

To prove it, here is one that we offer $10,000 to any man and $15,000 to any woman who guesses the mystery before the last chapter.

The of the story is alone given, as literary style is not our object—we want mystery.

Here, Known, Learning and Ignore only change this page. In your own library they are kept: a Known word is never underlined again, and a Learning one waits for you in My Words.

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