A man has quarreled with his sweetheart, and he is going to go off and die in Africa or somewhere, except he has accidentally left his hat inside and he can neither go back in to get it nor be seen in the streets without a hat. He comes up with various ridiculous schemes to get the hat back, "helped" by a random poet, who wants the man to go off and die in Africa because it would be romantic. In the end, he reconciles with the girl, to the poet's utter disgust.

I am faintly amazed this was never adapted for film, because—depending on when it was written—I can think of a raft of actors who it might have been made for.