The stage-struck daughter of an English rural dean runs off with the family plate to London and a theatrical career-only to die tragically by the bite of a mousetrap in her moment of triumph as a sensational Juliet. 

Ronald Firbank (1886-1926) was an acclaimed British novelist whose work was championed by E. M. Forster and Evelyn Waugh. He attended Trinity Hall, Cambridge, although he left before receiving a degree. He traveled extensively through Spain, Italy, the Middle East, and North Africa. He died of lung disease while in Rome in 1926.