Following the death of his parents, eighteen-year-old Louis returns to San Francisco after having lived in Paris for most of his adolescent life, attending boarding schools and college.  Upon returning, Louis shocks his fellow Parisians when he informs them that he will be staying in California until further notice; he intends to make a great author of himself and return to Paris, heralding greatness. His older friend, Dupont, supports his endeavors, admitting that Louis’ genius is unparalleled in men of his age.  After months of unsuccessful forays into writing crime fiction, Louis complains to Dupont, who suggests that he take up romantic fiction, or perhaps romantic non-fiction. Dupont sets Louis up on a date with his niece, Berthe. Dupont insists that exploring love will instill a great vigor in him, but Louis is unconvinced, having gone his entire life feeling unstirred by anything but his work; the only thing that tempts him is greatness. Still, he agrees and meets Berthe, who is wonderful—but this only reinforces Louis’ initial assumption: even with all of Berthe’s greatness, he still feels nothing for her, and thus resigns himself to a lonely life instead. One night, attempting to seduce him, Berthe is lying in bed and invites Louis into the room. Completely unmoved by romance, Louis wonders if crime will get him going, so he begins putting on an act to scare Berthe: he creepily approaches her and begins smothering her with a pillow. Although he intended to only startle her, he is entranced by the act, and sees it through to completion.  Louis is shocked at his own actions but flees the room, inspired by her murder to write. Soon after, he learns that another man was convicted of the crime and hanged. Struck with grief, Louis turns to Dupont to confess, but even his best friend does not want to hear it. Believing Louis must be suffering a terrible psychotic break, he insists that he not repeat a word of this to anyone, lest he end up in an asylum. Dupont absolves himself of any guilt over Berthe’s death even though he had introduced the two. However, Louis prepares a confession he intends to turn in, hoping that his conscience will be of use to psychologists who study crime.