A Counterfeit Presentment; and, The Parlour Car

"A Counterfeit Presentment; and, The Parlour Car" by William Dean Howells is a play set in the late 1800s, focusing on the chaotic events that unfold in the parlour of the Ponkwasset Hotel one September day. The story centers around Bartlett, a young artist whose gruff personality hides a desire for peace, complicated by his uncanny resemblance to a man who caused great sorrow to a family connected to the hotel. As Bartlett and his friend Cummings, another artist with sensitive disposition, settle into the hotel, their conversation hints at themes of beauty, artistic dreams, and the differing fortunes of women betrayed, all before they stumble upon a lady's belongings that suggest coming trouble. The play rapidly gains intensity as General Wyatt, believing Bartlett to be someone else, confronts him, launching a sequence of mistaken identities and compelling the characters to confront issues like selfhood, culpability, and the masks people wear in society.