Francis Marion Crawford (1854-1909) was an American writer noted for his many novels, especially those set in Italy, and for his classic weird and fantastic stories. Excerpt: "It's worth while to be a great inventor to be able to make things like that " he cried, and Overholt was as much pleased by the praise as an opera singer is who is called out three times before the curtain after the first act. So the little City of Hope grew, and they both felt that Hope herself was soon coming to dwell therein, if she had not come already."