Please write a story outline of the following in a three-act story structure: Ansel and Lenny, two successful businessmen and lifelong friends from a prominent neighborhood in New York City, continue to maintain their close friendship even after Ansel’s marriage to Camilla, a stunningly beautiful, wealthy, devoted, and virtuous woman. Despite having successful relationships with both wife and friend, Ansel becomes increasingly uneasy with each passing day. “I have this overpowering desire,” he confesses to a stunned Lenny, “to test Camilla’s loyalty. I can never truly value someone who remains faithful only due to lack of temptation, rather than actively resisting the advances of an eager and persistent pursuer.” Ansel pleads with his friend to act as Camilla’s seducer, promising to ask someone else to do the job if Lenny refuses. The husband then goes on a business trip out of town to provide the opportunity for the scheme.

Despite his initial reservations about the plan, Lenny finds himself falling deeply in love with Camilla, and he starts to genuinely court her. Camilla immediately rebuffs his advances and writes a letter to her husband. Camilla’s letter, urging Ansel to return home and protect his own interests from his best friend’s pursuit, is met with a cool response. She decides not to bother her husband any further and to handle the issue herself. Unable to resist Lenny’s passionate persistence, Camilla finally agrees to the affair wholeheartedly, sharing her secret only with her personal assistant, Leona.

When Ansel returns home a few days later, he eagerly asks his friend for an update on his plan. Lenny lies, assuring Ansel that no wife is more loyal or strong-willed than Camilla. Still unsatisfied, Ansel asks Lenny to continue playing the part of the seducer, and he makes sure to create more opportunities for the test.

Meanwhile, Leona has been growing more reckless and careless about her own affair with a young man from New York City. One day, Lenny catches sight of the unknown man leaving Ansel and Camilla’s apartment. Imagining that Camilla is entertaining another lover, Lenny becomes consumed by jealousy and desperately seeks out Ansel to inform him that his wife is on the verge of betraying him and that the husband must secretly witness her unfaithfulness for proof. Devastated by her assistant’s blatant indiscretion, Camilla seeks Lenny’s advice. The young man, feeling guilty for his jealousy, reveals his confession to Ansel. But Camilla reassures him that she has the perfect plan.

Camilla and Leona concoct an elaborate ruse, knowing that Ansel is secretly watching. Fully committed to the ruse, Camilla pretends to stab herself in a non-life-threatening place, seemingly deciding to take her own life rather than bring disgrace upon Ansel’s name. Ansel, moved by his wife’s “virtue” and his friend’s loyalty, is once again at peace.

Regrettably, Leona’s recklessness eventually shatters the illusion of the perfect life that Ansel, Camilla, and Lenny had constructed. One night, Ansel hears a commotion coming from Leona’s room. As he enters the room, an unfamiliar man leaps from the window and flees. Leona angrily promises her employer that she will explain everything if he waits until morning, and Ansel begrudgingly agrees.

Camilla, upon hearing of the incident and fearing that her assistant will reveal her secrets, begs Lenny to find her a safe place to hide. After secretly taking Camilla to a remote cabin, Lenny enlists in the military. Meanwhile, Ansel wakes up the next morning to find that Leona has disappeared. Discovering his wife and best friend gone as well, he leaves his home in despair. He learns the entire truth of Camilla’s betrayal from gossip circulating in the city.

Heartbroken and hopeless, Ansel prepares himself for death, leaving a note behind that reads, “a foolish and ill-advised curiosity has robbed me of my life.” Lenny is tragically killed in battle soon afterward, and Camilla passes away a few months later, leaving behind their story as a stark reminder of the dangers of misplaced trust and desire.
