THE BOTTLE IMP

  _NOTE_

  _Any student of that very unliterary product, the English drama of theearly part of the century, will here recognise the name and the rootidea of a piece once rendered popular by the redoubtable O. Smith. Theroot idea is there, and identical, and yet I hope I have made it a newthing. And the fact that the tale has been designed and written for aPolynesian audience may lend it some extraneous interest nearer home._

  _R. L. S._