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- The Lieutenant John Miller, U.S.A., receives a note from his southern sweetheart chiding him for not getting through the enemy's lines to visit her. His pride determines him, and going to his general he asks leave of absence. The general tells Miller that leave of absence will be given him on condition that he purposely gets captured in his fiancée's home with a decoy dispatch on him. Miller refuses, then the general reminds him that his first duty is to the flag. His patriotic appeal decides Miller and he consents. How Miller by a trick gets through the enemy's lines and arrives at his sweetheart's house; how he is tempted; how, by a superhuman effort, he masters himself and sends crashing to the floor a large marble bust which causes his capture; how the decoy note works and the enemy is utterly routed; how the remnant return to avenge themselves on Miller, and are only prevented from shooting him by the strategy of Grace; all these scenes must be witnessed to be appreciated. The closing scene, five years later, is something to be remembered. Picture in your mind a stately colonial mansion, now utterly ruined. Grace's father slumbers by the door. To this scene returns Jack Miller, and he is confronted by Grace, who tells him that however much she may have loved him, she can never forget the suffering he has brought on her and hers.Jack turns to go. He is recalled by the father, who tells him that after all he did his duty as a soldier and the lovers are reunited.
- Ralph Valentine and his father are musicians of proud and aristocratic ways and are so wrapped up in their art as to be oblivious of their poverty. Their faithful servant, Joseph, has been wont to withhold the threats of debtors from them, but there comes a time, shortly after the father's death, that Ralph must be told the truth. Joseph tells everything and suggests that Ralph accept money that he has saved and go to Paris, where he may show the world his art. Ralph does so and goes to live with the Gardins. His uncle Victor Valentine, wealthy and fond of gay life, invites him to live at his home provided he will leave behind his foolish dreams and fancies. Ralph refuses, preferring to remain where he is. He wins the love of Pauline Gardin and is quite content. Through his Bohemian acquaintances he meets Mme. Flora Margot. This tired, blasé young woman makes a pet of him and enraptured by her dazzling beauty he longs to satisfy her every desire. Attempting to do so, he becomes indebted to impatient creditors, who demand immediate payment or his arrest. Pauline, ignorant of his infatuation with Flora, assists him out of his present difficulties with her own savings. Realizing Flora's fast waning affection, he resolves to regain it by buying a certain antique necklace which he knows she covets. The antique dealer demands an exorbitant price which he is unable to pay. He is further disheartened when one day he finds her in the arms of his uncle, and he rushes forth intent upon suicide. About to throw himself into the river, a vision of Flora appears before him and he resolves to secure the necklace at any cost. The dealer of the antique shop is busy when he enters and Ralph wanders into a room where there are curios upon the walls and tables. Curiously examining the various articles, his hand suddenly touches a secret panel which springs back, revealing a marvelous painting of the Christ. A spiritual influence comes over him, so profound is its impression upon his mind. While awaiting the attendance of the dealer, he becomes greatly interested in a peculiar skin which has writing upon it in Sanskrit. Sitting down he becomes drowsy and falls asleep. The writing changes into English, which reads that the possessor of the skin has only to wish and his wish will be granted, but that with each desire the skin shall grow smaller and the days of the possessor grow less until death is the penalty at the last wish. The dealer approaches and Ralph is amazed to behold him now in the form of a devil. The devil asks if he desires the skin and Ralph, fearfully undecided, suddenly thinks of Flora and agrees to take it. What are his desires and his terrible anguish as the talisman grows smaller have been woven into a story of weird and mystic situations.
- When young Jean Germaine's father decreed that his son should not marry Lizette Rouget, unless the girl brought with her the sum of ten thousand francs. Jean, bowing to the inherited custom of generations, would as soon have thought of flying to the moon as of disobeying the parental command, Lizette was somewhat downcast when she learned the size of the required dowry, but soon brightened up and assured Jean that she would surely have it within a year, as a result of her clever embroidery work. But the end of the year found poor Lizette in a sorrowful state. Only a fifth of the required sum had been earned and Monsieur Germaine was beginning to grow insistent that his son should choose another bride. At her wits' end, Lizette readily accepted the offer of her brother, Paul, to increase the money to the proper amount by means of a certain investment. Unknown to his sister, Paul was an habitué of the gambling dens of Paris. With his sister's money in his charge, he betook himself to a somewhat shady resort, where, owing to a streak of exceptional luck, he succeeded in winning the required stake within half an hour. But although winning the money was easy, taking it away was attended with serious difficulties. The proprietor of the den was distinctly unwilling to have so much money taken away. Paul escaped after a scuffle, only to be held up on the street and stabbed. Desperately wounded, he took refuge in an inn, staggering up to a room, and died after he had concealed the money in a crevice in the floor. From that date, Paul's ghost kept watch in the room and faithfully guarded the money from unworthy hands. Soon the room acquired the evil reputation of being haunted, and was shunned by all. Poor Lizette's hopes expired with the disappearance of her fortune, and nothing was left for her to look forward to but a life of poverty and despair. One day an Englishman came to the den, and, laughing at the landlord's explanation, engaged the room. The ghost recognized an honest man. Under its mysterious influence the Englishman found the money and the paper with Lizette's address upon it. Still under the ghost's guidance, he carried the money to Lizette and changed her sad despair to hopeful joy.
- Episode 1: "The Perfect Truth" The day after Dolly Desmond had startled the community with the excellence of her graduation oration, Bobby North, a reporter on the local paper, suggested that it would be a good idea for her to write stories and things for his paper. Dolly was delighted with the idea, and started at once to put it into effect. She decided to write a story, which, although ostensibly fictional, should actually give a truthful picture of life about her as she saw it. After a week of hard work, which involved much burning of midnight oil and much weariness for the fair young authoress, the masterpiece was finished. The editor was delighted with it. It was published under the title, "The Perfect Truth: A Story of Real Life" and, at Dolly's request, the name of the author was omitted. On the afternoon of the publication of the story, the Ladies' Home Sewing Guild was engaged in its customary routine of languid needlework and somnolent gossip. One of the members began to read "The Perfect Truth," but stopped with a gasp of surprise, and called the attention of the other members to the article. In graphic, pitiless bits of description, the essential characteristics of each of the members of the Ladies' Guild were set forth so plainly, that there was no possibility of mistaking their several identities. Dolly had used the pen of a satirist with telling effect. The meeting of the Ladies' Guild ended in a furor of confusion. Mrs. Broome, the hostess of the afternoon, who had been particularly scored by the anonymous author, rushed to the newspaper office and demanded the name of her defamer. The editor refused to give her the desired information, but a note from Dolly on Bobby's desk made all things clear to Mrs. Broome. With the spreading of the news, the storm center shifted to Dolly's home. While indignant citizens waited on Mr. Desmond, and threatened to withdraw their accounts from his bank, the infuriated wives filled Mrs. Desmond's ears with their complaints. Dolly's father commanded her to stop the story and make a public apology, but Dolly, for the first time in her life, refused to comply with her parents' wishes. With the fifty dollars her story had brought in, she left for the city to earn her own living. We shall discover later what happened to her there. Episode 2: "The Ghost of Mother Eve" The first thing Dolly did after her arrival in New York was to try to find herself a job. The fifty dollars she had been paid for her story was practically all she had, and Dolly was wise enough to know that such an amount would not carry her very far in the city. At the very time that Dolly went to apply for a position on "The Comet," Mrs. Yorke, a wealthy society woman, was also on the list of applicants. But whereas Dolly merely wanted a position in order that she might feed and clothe herself, Mrs. Yorke desired a sinecure of a post wherein she might indulge her love for notoriety and scandal. As not infrequently happens, the rich and undeserving succeeded, while the poor and deserving failed. Dolly was politely turned away, while the paper agreed to publish a column from Mrs. Yorke's pen under the name of "Mother Eve." Mrs. Yorke noticed Dolly as she was leaving the newspaper office. Discovering the girl's literary ability, she invited her to lunch, and offered Dolly a position as her private secretary. Dolly, naturally enough, jumped at the offer, and entered upon her duties immediately. The main portion of her duties consisted in writing the "Mother Eve" column. Mrs. Yorke had not the remotest idea how to set about her self-appointed task. All she cared for was the money. For some days Dolly was moderately contented and happy. But one afternoon, while she was collecting news of an approaching ball in the showrooms of a fashionable modiste, she happened to encounter Mrs. Yorke. That estimable lady looked over and past and through Dolly, without the slightest trace of recognition in her face. When Dolly entered her room that evening to accomplish her nightly literary task, she fell, sprained her wrist, and promptly fainted. When Mrs. Yorke returned from a dance in the wee small hours of the next morning, she found a copy boy waiting patiently for the "Mother Eve" material. Dolly, roused from her swoon, was unable to work the typewriter on account of her wrist. So the copy boy wrote it to her dictation, while Mrs. Yorke stood by and fumed. After the boy bad left, Mrs. Yorke was highly unpleasant. Dolly, in a few crisp words, told her employer exactly what she thought of her, and informed her that hereafter she could write her own column. Then Dolly went away. Episode 3: "An Affair of Dress" It will he remembered that Dolly was engaged by Mrs. Yorke, a fashionable member of the smart set, to write a society column for the "Comet." Dolly furnished the brains and did the work. Mrs. Yorke received the money. After she had received a few unpleasant proofs of her employer's unreasonable selfishness, Dolly shook the dust of the Yorke mansion from her feet, and departed. In the course of her gathering of society notes, Dolly had met Minnie, a mannequin in a fashionable tailoring establishment. As luck would have it, there was a vacancy when Dolly arrived to ask Minnie about her work, and twenty-four hours after her quarrel with Mrs. Yorke, the girl was engaged at Browngrass' as a mannequin, with the princely salary of twenty-five dollars a week. Let it not be supposed that she was entirely infatuated with her position. She had come to the city to write, and write she would eventually. This was merely a makeshift, a temporary bar to keep the wolf from the door. There were other reasons too, why her situation did not satisfy her. The proprietor was kind, a little too kind, Dolly thought. One afternoon, he tried to kiss her, and she, quite naturally, slapped his face. In the midst of all her little difficulties, Dolly was not allowing herself to drift out of touch with the magazine and newspaper world. A poem sent by her to the "Jester," brought a gratifying return in the shape of a letter from the editor inquiring into her capabilities for a small editorial position. Later, the editor called, and since he was a nice sort of person, Dolly took dinner with him. In the excitement of the moment, she sailed off to the restaurant in the gown she was wearing. As it happened, the proprietor of Browngrass' came to the restaurant, saw the gown, called a policeman, and ordered him to arrest Dolly. Aid came from an unexpected quarter. Rockwell Crosby, editor of the "Comet," was sitting at the next table. He discovered that Dolly had written Mrs. Yorke's column, showed his card to the policeman, and ordered him to remove the angry proprietor. Dolly, he said, had no connection with Browngrass'. She was his star reporter. After the man had been removed and Dolly thanked Crosby for his kind lie, he told her it was the truth. She was engaged. Episode 4: "Putting One Over" When Miss Mindel, president of the Reform League, received a pathetic letter from certain tenants of the Union Realty Company, complaining of unsanitary living conditions and unjust rents, she wrote a sharp letter to the president of the Realty Company, threatening action in the courts unless improvements were made. James Boliver, the president, had put his company into its position of prominence, largely through his entirely unscrupulous method of dealing with any type of opposition to his plans. Briefly summing up the probable results of any action on the part of the Reform League, he decided that it must be prevented at any cost, so he decided to bribe Miss Mindel. Miss Mindel did not understand the carefully couched letter she received from Boliver, asking her to come and see him. She felt that she was getting into deep water, and decided to appeal to the newspapers, before taking any action. At the office of "The Comet," where she went first, Miss Mindel met Dolly Desmond, and with characteristic impulsiveness, told her the whole story. Dolly immediately hit on a plan, which she confided to Miss Mindel. That good lady, after some thought, consented to it. She was personally unknown to Boliver, and there seemed no reason why the plan should not succeed. In accordance with it, Dolly presented herself at the Union Realty Company's office as Miss Mindel. Mr. Boliver was very nice to her, indeed, and, finding her even more compliant than he had hoped, gave her a check for five thousand dollars, and allowed her to write him a receipt on the typewriter. Dolly made a carbon copy of the receipt, thanked Mr. Boliver, and turned to go. At the door she met Mr. Browngrass, her late employer, who happened to be one of the directors of the company. Since Browngrass recognized her immediately, there was nothing left for Dolly but flight via the fire escape. The enraged directors pursued her, but without result. She got her story in in time to go to press, and we leave Dolly glancing affectionately at the staring headlines of her "scoop." Episode 5: "The Chinese Fan" All newspaperdom was excited over the strange disappearance of Muriel Armstrong and each daily was doing its best to discover the missing heiress first, and thus secure for themselves one of the most sensational bits of news of the day, but no trace of her could be found, despite all efforts. The editor of the Comet ground his cigar and swore impotently and even Dolly, the star reporter, was at a loss for clues. Dolly was pondering over the matter on her way to her evening's assignment: the Chinese theater in Mott Street, where she was detailed to report the play. During the second act a little Chinese pin in the shape of a fan, which Dolly was wearing, unconscious of its significance to the Tongs, started a riot in the theater. As Dolly was escaping down the side street a huge hand protruded itself from a small door, pulled her inside, down a narrow corridor and thrust her into an ill-lighted den. How could she get out? She pounded on the door and called for assistance but all that greeted her was a chuckle and a slushing of soft footsteps down the corridor. She peered around in the gloom and suddenly a frightened bundle of humanity detached itself from the corner and a young girl fell at Dolly's feet, imploring assistance. Dolly raised her gently, looked into her face and discovered that she was Muriel Armstrong, the missing heiress. All fear of the Chinese vanished. Here was the scoop of the year. Fate helped her too, for the half-crazed opium fiend who was Muriel's guard, upset the lamp and set the place on fire. This enabled Dolly and her prize to escape and the next morning the heiress was turned over to her delighted parents. Episode 6: "On the Heights" Dolly's friend, Rockwell Crosby, editor of the "Comet." disagrees with the management and resigned. Dolly was disappointed at the news, but that was as nothing compared to her rage at the attitude of his successor, who was a self-confessed "hustler" and intended to make everybody on the paper "sit up and take notice." The first assignment he gave Dolly was to wander about the streets after dark until she found a story. Dolly was furious. She had made a distinct place for herself on the staff, and was accustomed to being treated with consideration. There was nothing to do but obey, so Dolly started out. To her amazement she ran across Ella Snyder, an old school friend, who was weeping bitterly. She had eloped with a young man named Oliver Allen. Oliver had brought her to a hotel, and had departed in search of a license. Having not come back for two hours Ella concluded that she had been deceived and decided to drown herself. Dolly took the girl home, told her not to be silly, and went to get Allen. She found him at the hotel bewildered at the disappearance of his bride-to-be. Dolly, convinced that his intentions were honorable, took him back with her. They found Ella had disappeared again. She left a note, saying she had resolved to die. In order to repay Dolly, Ella said she was going to jump from the highest building in town, so Dolly could make a scoop of the news. Dolly and Allen rushed to the Woolworth Building, and stopped Ella just in time. Then they repaired to the City Hall, where Ella and Allen were married. Dolly returned to the office and told the editor she had a story, but didn't intend to write it. He was wildly indignant at first, until she had calmly explained she knew perfectly what she was doing. Episode 7: "The End of the Umbrella" The Aqueduct Construction Company has been having a good deal of trouble with certain anarchistic elements, who, anxious to seize any cause of discontent to further the bloody revolution they hoped for, opposed the building of the great pipe which would carry fresh sparkling water to the crowded people of the great city. Finally, after the company had been worried half to death by anonymous threats, a tremendous explosion killed a couple of dozen workmen and completely wrecked the main section of the great work. Dolly Desmond, in the city office of the newspaper, heard of the catastrophe and begged the editor to allow her to investigate it. The editor, who had formed a high opinion of Dolly's character, readily consented, and Dolly set out for the scene of the disaster. As she wandered about the wrecked aqueduct, she came upon a curious umbrella handle in among several pieces of a shattered bomb. Dolly kept her find and said nothing about it to anybody. With some little difficulty, she succeeded in obtaining a position as cashier in the dining room of the little hotel near the works. She had the umbrella handle placed on a new umbrella, put it in the stand where she could keep her eye on it, and settled herself to watch. It wasn't as easy a matter to devote her entire attention to the stand as she had thought at first, for Grant, a young engineer at the works, fell madly in love with her. and insisted on talking to her at every opportunity. At last, when she was on the point of giving up in disgust, a shifty-eyed individual picked up the umbrella, started to go out with it, and then apparently remembering, looked at it, put it down and looked frightened. Dolly recognized him as "Nutty Jim," one of the lodgers in the hotel. That evening Dolly went up to his room to investigate. She had just unearthed several bombs when Nutty Jim entered and sprang at her. She fired at him, but missed. A bomb was knocked off the table and exploded. Nutty Jim was killed and Dolly severely injured. We leave her at the hospital with the anxious Grant at her side, delightedly reading her "scoop" in the Comet. Episode 8: "A Tight Squeeze" When the news came to the Comet office that Mr. Martinengro, the well-known Italian-American merchant and philanthropist, had been murdered, Dolly Desmond was very anxious to have the assignment. To her disgust, the managing editor gave the story to Hillary Graham, the young man Dolly had met in "Mother Eve's" house. Dolly, forced to be satisfied with a Salvation Army wedding. Hillary set off on his assignment in high spirits. He had not made much of a success of reporting yet, but he was confident that his work in this case would convince the Comet management that he was one man in a thousand. Arrived in a dingy little barroom near the scene of the crime, he announced his intention of apprehending the criminals to the interested bartender. As a result, a few minutes later, Hillary was knocked on the head and thrown into the cellar. Dolly, after finishing her report on the wedding, donned a Salvation Army uniform, and accompanied the band about town in search of more material. In the course of her wanderings, she entered the barroom, and saw a necktie on the floor which she had noticed that morning on Hillary. Creeping unobserved into the cellar, she discovered the unconscious Hillary lying on a pile of coal. As she stood in puzzled anxiety, wondering how she could possibly save the young man and herself, she was startled by a sudden rush of coal into the cellar, through the coal hole from the street. Daddy, the copy boy on the Comet, happened to be on the street above, watching the coal men at their task. Hearing a muffled cry, he stopped the men. A moment later Dolly crawled through the hole. She and Daddy rushed for the police. After Hillary had been rescued, the police entered the saloon, and arrested its occupants. A lucky chance resulted in the discovery of the Martinengro murderers. While Dolly was writing her story in the police station, the grateful Hillary proposed. Dolly was non-committal. She was afraid she wasn't quite ready to give up her adventurous life even for so successful a reporter as he was. Episode 9: "A Terror of the Night" Mrs. Winslow, a young widow, owned a piece of property known as "Beach House," for which the Union Realty Company were the agents. The money for the rental of the property meant a good deal to Mrs. Winslow, and when her tenants began to grow few and far between, she naturally called on her agents to inquire into the causes. President Bolivar, of the Realty Company, gravely informed her that "Beach House" was haunted. To substantiate his remarks, he showed Mrs. Winslow some newspaper clippings about the reported ghost at the house. Many complaints had been received from tenants and the property was becoming more and more impossible to rent. In short, Mr. Bolivar advised Mrs. Winslow to accept the Realty Company's very generous offer of $10,000 for the property worth $50,000. Mrs. Winslow thought that her property was worth more and went to consult her friend, Dolly Desmond, the star reporter on "The Comet." Dolly, instantly excited at the prospect of investigating a haunted house, suggested that Mrs. Winslow leave the property to her for the space of a week. Mrs. Winslow made out the necessary papers and then went to Bolivar and told him what she had done. Bolivar, an old enemy of Dolly, immediately planned a trap for her. He arrived at Beach House a little while after Dolly had made herself at home in one of the gray dreary rooms. After his first expression of pretended surprise, he began to make love to her, but the derisiveness of her answer showed plainly that his original plan was useless. So he bowed and took his leave. Dolly slept that night on a sofa in the front hall in the midst of a number of garden implements which had been stowed there for safekeeping. In the middle of the night, she was awakened by a slight noise. Looking up, a terrible sight met her eyes. A shrouded figure, clad in garments of ghastly white, was coming down the stairs toward her. Instead of shrieking and fainting, Dolly turned the hose on the advancing figure. It halted, wavered, and then ran out of the house and into the arms of Malone, who had just arrived to investigate the anonymous letter. The ghost was, of course, Bolivar, who had chosen this means of attempting to get Mrs. Winslow's property at a low price. Episode 10: "Dolly Plays Detective" When Mrs. Cambridge invited Dolly Desmond, and Malone, the managing editor of the Comet, to a dinner party, Malone naturally offered to take Dolly around to the Cambridge's in his car. For in the short space of time in which he had held his new office on the Comet staff, Malone had grown very fond of the clever young girl. When, on their way to the party, Dolly waved her hand to her old friend the policeman on the beat, she noticed a quick frown of displeasure on Malone's face. To tease him, she started to flirt outrageously with all the men present as soon as she arrived at the dinner, among whom was one of society's newest lions, the Count de Rochepierre. In the midst of the dinner, it was suddenly discovered that one of the ladies' necklaces was missing. She had worn it about her neck when she sat down, and it seemed absolutely inconceivable that anybody should have been able to remove it in the brilliantly-lighted room. On the following afternoon, the count called on Dolly, and begged her to accept a beautiful ring as a slight token of his esteem. Dolly, who rather enjoyed leading the count on, told him she should be delighted to wear it. Shortly after he had apparently taken his leave, Mrs. Cambridge and several ladies came to call. At Dolly's suggestion, a game of auction bridge was commenced. As they sat about the table, precisely the same thing happened as on the preceding night. Two of the ladies' necklaces vanished. The fact that Dolly had been present at both occasions when the mysterious occurrence had taken place, seemed a little significant. The ladies left hurriedly, and somewhat coolly. Left alone, Dolly decided to go and see the Count. She was led to this decision by several suspicious little incidents she had observed. In the Count's quarters, she discovered not only the missing necklaces, but absolute proof of how he had perpetrated his astonishing crimes. But even cleverer than her discovery of his method, was the way in which she inveigled the Count into playing a game of '"Forfeits" at the Cambridge's, and at the crucial moment in the game, clapped a pair of handcuffs on him and turned him over to the police. Episode 11: "Dolly at the Helm" When the city editor of the Comet burst into the managing editor's office and told him that his child was desperately ill with diphtheria, Malone, the managing editor, naturally told him to take as much time off as he wanted. Malone himself was feeling very badly at the time, and his resolution to take charge personally of the city editor's department was never carried out. Shortly after the city editor had left, Malone fainted at his desk. Dolly Desmond, the Comet's star reporter, found him there when she came into the room. She revived Malone from his stupor and had him taken home. In nine cases out of ten, both Malone and the city editor might well have been absent without any particular disturbance in the ordinary routine of the office. It was four o'clock on an unusually dull summer afternoon. The likelihood of anything happening seemed extremely remote. However, scarcely had Malone been taken away when things started. A terrible excursion boat catastrophe was the first. Right on its heels came the news that a great hotel was burning. In the excited chaos into which the Comet office was plunged, Dolly showed the stuff of which she was made. Her small hand seized the deserted tiller and with the quick incisive decision which was her chief characteristic, she wearied the legs of messenger boys, and kept the telephone wires hot with the dispatching of her swift Napoleanic commands. When it was all over, and the day was won, Dolly received a letter from home telling her that her father's bank was on the verge of ruin, largely as a result of the hard feeling which had been stirred up by Dolly's story, "The Perfect Truth." Poor Dolly, at her wits' end, went to Malone for advice. She took the manuscript of "The Perfect Truth" with her. Malone' s illness was a blessing in disguise for it gave him a chance to read the story, the first installment of which had had such a disastrous effect. He was amazed by its brilliance of style and theme. In a gush of unwanted enthusiasm he told Dolly that he was willing to publish the story at his own expense as a speculation. So Dolly, with her hopes once again raised, went away with the dim belief growing in her that "The Perfect Truth" might not be so bad a thing for her father as it had at first seemed. Episode 12: "The Last Assignment" When Dolly Desmond left the home of her youth to embark on a journalistic career in the city, she left the town in a state of furor behind her. The story called "The Perfect Truth," the first installment of which Dolly published in the town newspaper, aroused so much resentment against Dolly that the townspeople revenged themselves by withdrawing their money from her father's bank. Two or three months after Dolly went away, the bank was in such straits that suspension of payment seemed only a matter of hours. Then "The Perfect Truth" in its complete form was published as a book. It met with an immediate and startling success. Dolly attained to fame and wealth almost overnight. The echo of her success reached her native town, and people began to sit up and take notice. It was one thing to feel themselves the butt of the joke of an immature schoolgirl, and quite another to know that they had been the material from which a famous authoress had drawn her inspiration. In the midst of the excitement, Bobby, at the newspaper office, suddenly received word that Dolly was coming to town. The news was not an unmixed pleasure for Bobby. He had an evil conscience. He had been madly in love with Dolly before she left town, and believed that she cared a good deal for him. After she left, he fell in love with another girl. However, Bobby's first duty in the matter was perfectly clear. So he wrote up a headline article for his paper announcing Dolly's arrival. The town went wild with excitement. Fame was about to fall upon it again for the first time since Hank Bowers had been lynched for horse stealing many years before. All hatred and jealousy was forgotten and Dolly was welcomed by a tremendous popular demonstration. The first thing she did was to set her father's bank on its feet again, partly with the help of the money she had made and partly by the use of her extremely persuasive tongue. In the midst of the excitement, a stranger arrived in town, James Malone, the enterprising business manager of Dolly's paper. Everybody wondered who he was, and Bobby was the first to find out. For when he went to Dolly's house, with hanging head, to explain how matters stood, she told him that she was going to marry Malone. And that is how we leave Dolly with one career behind her, and another and far finer one ahead.
- An amateur detective's automobile is stolen by a young woman who is determined to elope, leading to a complicated chase involving several vehicles.
- The eighteenth day of April, 1775, still lives in the hearts of all loyal Americans, as the birthday of our country. It was the day the first shots were fired against the British at Lexington. Throughout the years of privation and suffering which followed, that same spirit of the "minute men" endured up to the very last, when Lord Cornwallis surrendered his army on the nineteenth day of October, 1781, American independence was assured. Of all the characters of our Revolutionary period, none is more endeared to all than that of Paul Revere, whose exploit has been immortalized by Longfellow so effectively that the lines of the poem and the incidents portrayed are graven more deeply, perhaps, upon the average American mind than any other character or exploit of our American history. When Revere learned of the British commander's intention of attacking the patriot's base of supplies in Concord, and told his friend to, "Hang a lantern aloft in the belfry arch of the North Church tower as a signal light." He little realized that the tiny light would serve as a beacon of liberty for future generations but so it has proven and we follow him today as he clattered along the country-side rousing the men to fight for their life and our liberty and our pulses beat with each stride of the mount.
- Although she has a strong friendship with Abner, a hand on her father's farm, saucy Gladiola Bain loves only her father, until she meets vacationing Ned Williams, a self-described "idler" from the city. When their seemingly harmless flirtation develops into love, Gladiola refuses to obey her father's wishes that she give Williams up, and when Williams, after some hesitation, offers her a beautiful home and clothes, they elope to the city, where Williams arranges a mock marriage. After a few months of happiness, Williams' real wife appears. Gladiola tells Williams that she despises him and returns to her welcoming father. Amid much gossip in the town, Gladiola gives birth to a child, while Williams, whose wife has refused to divorce him, has gone abroad. When he learns that his wife has died, he returns repentantly to Gladiola's farm, but although she is touched by his concern, her love has died, and she refuses his entreaties. At the end, Gladiola and her child stroll in the gladiola fields with the faithful Abner.
- When Superintendent Narkom called Cleek on the telephone and told him that he had an interesting case for him, Cleek was somewhat loath to accept it. The afternoon editions of the newspapers had some weighty news about Mauravania, and Cleek was much interested in Mauravanian affairs. However, a case was always a case, so Cleek set out for the address given him. Before starting, he put on the disguise of an old man. M. de Louvisan, the man who desired to engage Cleek's services, had a strange story to tell. A mysterious terror hung over his house. A strange shadow-like form would periodically appear at his bedside, and call the name of one of his children. Shortly afterwards, the child would be found dead in bed with a silver cord tightly wound about his neck. Four of his six children had already perished, and now a fifth was threatened. A curious expression flitted across Cleek's face as de Louvisan was telling his story. At the end, he questioned the bereaved father rather sharply. At last, however, Cleek consented to go with de Louvisan to his home. On the street a bulletin on the Mauravanian situation caused Cleek to change his mind suddenly. He was just on the point of declining to go with de Louvisan, when a cab drove up to the curb containing Cleek's old friend, Miss Lorne. She begged Cleek to undertake the case for the sake of Mme. de Louvisan, who had called on her and had begged her to intercede with him. Cleek turned white, and sent Miss Lorne home in another carriage. Then, under pretense of buying some cigars, he called up Narkom in a tobacconist's shop, and set out with de Louvisan. Cleek's first action after reaching de Louvisan's home was to throw his coat over the butler's head, and to handcuff that worthy and de Louvisan to the banisters. Then he sped upstairs to the picture gallery, where Madame de Louvisan waited. She turned, saw Cleek, and gave the Apache cry. At once, the portraits on the wall swung out, and in the cavity behind each of them appeared a man with a revolver leveled at the detective. The police arrived in time to save Cleek from a dangerous situation. The whole affair was a Mauravanian plot to put Cleek out of the way. De Louvisan's story had been made up out of the whole cloth. Fortunately, Cleek had recognized de Louvisan as a leading Parisian Apache at the very outset of the adventure.
- His niece had quarreled with him, his private secretary was by no means free from suspicion, his own brother was the sole heir if the will--now lost--was not found. Evidence was strongest against the girl, who was guilty.
- Unable to name the feeling, all of Gilchrist's companions felt a certain restraint when he came around. He diffused an air of gloom that was very depressing. They didn't realize that an unhappy marriage had embittered his life, and despite the fact that his wife and child were in want, he had forsaken both. Grace Gilchrist made a last appeal, realizing she would have to make her way in the world. She decided to impress Gilchrist's responsibilities on him by leaving their baby daughter in his care. She crept into his quarters and left the sleeping child on his bed with a note saying that he needed to provide for her until she could secure employment. The unexpected sight of the child startled him, but after reading the note he decided to shift the burden to someone else, and so he placed both child and note in Bootle's room and returned downstairs to watch the result. Bootle was astonished when he discovered the child. Adjutant and Mrs. Gray arrived while he was explaining matters, and as Gilchrist had made a remark about sending the baby to an orphan asylum, Bootle sought Mrs. Gray's advice. Her motherly heart caused her to take a great fancy to the child and it was arranged that she should find a nurse for her. Meantime Grace secured a position as companion to Countess Gourbolska. "Bootle's Baby" became the talk of the garrison and Bootle came in for a bit of gossip, while Gilchrist fanned the flame. Countess Gourbolska was invited to a house party, and as Grace accompanied her she was suddenly confronted with her own child. Her emotion was evident, and Gilchrist smiled sardonically as he watched Bootle assist her into the house. Bootle became interested in Grace, which was noticed by Gilchrist, and when she made another appeal to him he taunted her with Bootle's attentions. Matters were in this state and Bootle had even proposed to Grace, when the day of the regimental race arrived. Gilchrist's horse took an awful fall and before anything could be done the young officer expired. Later Grace decided to send for her baby. When Bootle brought her to the hotel he was greeted with a surprise, finding out Grace's real identity. Bootle renewed his suit, and was made happy by Grace's blushing assent never to separate Bootle from his baby.
- Thomas Brainerd, a Civil War veteran, is an enthusiastic old soldier and a firm believer in discipline. His household, which consists of his married daughter and his beloved grandson, Dick, is run on strict military rules, and if Dick objects to the early arrival of bedtime it needs only a word from grandpa on the subject of a soldier's first duty to bring the youngster to strict obedience. As Decoration Day approaches, Brainerd and his C.A.R. comrades meet and discuss the plans for the annual parade in the village. But Brainerd has been falling of late and, in spite of the doctor's efforts, seems to be getting weaker as time passes. The eventful day arrives and Brainerd, dressed in his best is ready to take his place in the line with his comrades, but as he takes his beloved rifle from its place his weakness is so apparent that his daughter finally prevails upon him to give up his idea of marching in the parade. He will watch from his chair in front of the house and insists that his daughter and little Dick take their places in the parade. Reluctantly they leave him and report his illness to his waiting comrades. The march to the soldier's monument is begun. As the stirring sound of fife and drum reaches his ears, Brainerd starts up, rifle in hand, and there comes to him a vision of battle. He is in the midst of the charge, the bursting shells, the cheers, the groans all come back to him. Only a moment and it passes away, but the sound of fife and drum are real, for there, passing before him, is his little band of comrades on parade. They cheer the old man as they pass on their way. At the monument the roll is called and many a name is left unanswered, but little Dick cannot remain silent when grandpa's name is called and bravely steps out and answers in his stead. Brainerd, too, has answered roll-call, but it is one of long ago, the vision comes back to him as if but yesterday as he steps out and answers to his name. At the monument they now fire a salute for their departed comrades. It sounds to Brainerd like the booming of "The Sunset Gun." He sees again the sinking sun of lung ago, the officer gives the command, the gun booms out and slowly the stars and stripes flutter to the ground. The vision disappears and Brainerd sinks exhausted into his chair. The exertion has been too great. There now floats to him from the monument the sounds of taps. How many times has he beard it in the stillness of the night! He sees it all once more, the bivouac at the end of the day's fighting. The trumpeter steps out. How sweet the notes sound upon the night air! The last call. All lights out. With a smile he sinks back and closes his eyes. His light is out, he has answered the last call. His returning comrades find him serene but cold, and reverently cover him with the tattered old battle flag.
- When Lieutenant Newman, known as Toppy to all of his friends, brought himself to the point of proposing, and realized that his suit was accepted, he was the most surprised person in the world. Kate knew how very bashful he was, so she took things into her own hands and proposed an elopement, writing him to meet her at Mrs. Hadley's boarding house in the village, near where the military camp was established. Both Lieutenants Upton and Enright planned to elope with their sweethearts, and they also arranged to meet the girls at Mrs. Hadley's. Kate's scheme worked and Toppy secured his leave, but Upton and Enright were met with a flat refusal when they went to the colonel with a similar request. They were forced to make some arrangement for the girls' protection, however, so they asked Toppy to look out for them. He accepted, little knowing what complications would ensue. In due time, Gertrude and Grace arrived at the boarding house. Mr. Wilson and Gertrude's guardian had discovered their plans, however, and tried every means to prevent the carrying out of their plans, even going so far as to employ the sheriff of the village. Toppy upset their plans, however, and everything was running smoothly until Tom Wheeler arrived to marry Cousin Julia, and Toppy loaned him a suit of clothes, as he had spoiled his own by falling from his bicycle. Mr. Wilson had secured a warrant for the arrest of a young officer, name unknown, and when the soldiers appeared on the scene it was Wheeler they arrested, he being arrayed in Toppy's uniform. He soon escaped by bribing one of the guards and returned to the house to carry out his wedding plans. Made desperate by the fact that Kate had arrived, and entirely misconstrued his attentions to the two young women, Toppy dressed himself in the bonnet and gown of Aunt Samantha, whose arrival was momentarily expected, and so planned things that he sent Mr. Wilson and Gertrude's guardian off on a wild goose chase after two boys disguised in the girls' dresses. Everything turned out well in the end. when a minister, hearing the turmoil in the house, entered and was pressed into service to perform the three marriage ceremonies.
- Kathleen wishes to marry her sweetheart Terence, but Bernard, the local squire takes a fancy to her and wants to wed her. Kathleen accepts his proposal and the two are married. The rich squire soon tires of his peasant wife, and when a rich woman comes along, he makes plans to get rid of Kathleen.
- Two young people, plighted lovers for many years past, play a joke on their fathers, who are old linguists, by writing a letter in a reverse hand. One old man claims it to be archaic Greek, while the other says it to be old Hebrew. A quarrel ensues which terminates by both vowing that his child shall not marry the other's. The young people are forbidden to call upon one another, so they resort to the phonograph. The young man dictates a message into the machine, telling his fiancée to elope with him. He has the record delivered with all possible speed. At the proper time they meet at their trysting place. Both fathers start in pursuit in automobiles only to reach the river to see their children far away. The old men take another boat, which capsizes, giving the two a good ducking. The lovers come to their fathers' aid, and everything is explained.
- Her father's death brought Sylvia Fairfax face-to-face with conditions she was unequipped to handle, and after an unsuccessful attempt to fill the position of governess in the Windermere home, she went to New York, where her experiences in a typical boardinghouse were varied. Finally, thanks to Hetty Sharp taking her under her experienced wing, Sylvia escaped Bannes' machinations and finally secured a position in the same department store where Hetty worked. In an effort to stop systematic thievery, the store owner had employed a detective and his suspicions fell on Sylvia. It so happened that just as Hetty had taken a handsome collar from the case, she was called to the main office. Thrusting the package into Sylvia's hand, telling her to keep it until she returned, she hurried away. A few moments afterwards Sylvia was confronted by the detective, and, despite her declaration of innocence, was taken to the office of the owner and charged with robbery. The two girls were examined separately by the police inspector, and being unable to secure any evidence from Hetty, he proceeded to apply the third degree to Sylvia. In spite of all their efforts, she refused to tell who gave her the package. Hetty, listening in the next room, could finally stand it no longer and burst into the room with a full confession that cleared Sylvia. Struck by Sylvia's fortitude, the Inspector offered to employ her on the force, and her first case turned out to be the abduction of little Kittie Gray. Sylvia had met Robert Gray before her misfortunes, and on discovering that she was to work in his home, she prevailed upon him not to divulge her identity. Clever work enabled Sylvia to locate the abductors through the complicity of Lizzie the maid, and after a terrific pistol fight ending in the capture of the thugs, little Kittie was restored to her mother's arms, while Robert made known Sylvia's real identity to his mother. Deciding to resign from the force, Sylvia and Robert went to the police station, and as Hetty had been released on a suspended sentence, Sylvia took the girl to her new home in an effort to make some return for Hetty's former kindness.
- Episode 1: "The Black Mask" John Perriton was unmistakably a good fellow. He was never one to spoil a party with a long face and an absence of joviality, nor was he at all likely to break up any sort of festivity by leaving early. A few people shook their heads gravely, and said that he was hitting the pace entirely too hard and that he would certainly kill himself if he didn't cut down on his liquor, but most of the world accepted him cordially on his own estimation as a man's man. Perriton loved Mary Wales almost as much as he loved himself, which is to say that he was not ready to settle down yet for her sake. Mary's brother Nelson, was a weak, helpless individual who was always in hot water. On the night of the masked ball, he came to Perriton, and asked him for help in one or two matters. He needed money very badly. To make matters worse, he had forged his sister's name to a check. The long and the short of the whole business was that Nelson must have $75,000 by the next morning. Perriton wrote an order on his bankers for $50,000, the entire extent of his depleted fortune, and drove Nelson to the station. But Nelson was not satisfied. He had to have the other $25,000. So he slipped off the train, came home by a short cut, put on his dancing mask and attempted to take his sister's jewels from her safe. He was surprised by the butler, and in the desperation of fear, killed the man. Immediately afterwards, Perriton arrived. Nelson, almost frenzied, begged him to put on the mask, and to pretend to be the criminal. No one would know who he was, and he would see that he got safely away. Perriton assented. His identity was discovered by Mary who, agonized at her discovery of the apparent character of the man she loved, forbade him even to think of her again, and allowed him to escape. Despite everything, Perriton kept silent, and allowing the woman he loved to think him the meanest type of criminal, went off into the night. Episode 2: "The Hunted Animal" In the first story of the series, John Perriton assumed the blame of a murder to save the brother of the girl he loved. We left him crossing Long Island Sound in a boat. He had but little headway. The police were on his trail. Before reaching the middle of the Sound, a detective put out from the opposite shore to intercept him. Perriton bent all efforts to escape. The detective fired and broke the wooden oarlock. Perriton pretended to be hit, fell overboard and swam beneath the surface, but McWade, the detective, was after him like a flash, and soon had him handcuffed. When they landed, McWade forced Perriton to walk in front up a steep slope. Perriton purposely slipped, fell on the detective, and both rolled to the bottom. Perriton escaped into the woods. After hours of wandering, he came to a railroad track. As Perriton watched, a man emerged from the bushes across the track, looked cautiously about, stuck a white flag in the ground, and disappeared. Shortly afterward a train passed. A young girl on the rear platform threw a bundle into the bushes near the flag. With desperate agility, Perriton seized the bundle and fled. Opening it, he discovered a suit of clothes and a note, which said the clothes were intended for an escaped convict. Full directions for the man's further guidance were clearly written out. Since the handcuffs prevented Perriton from putting on the clothes, he resolved on a desperate expedient. Hearing the approach of a train he laid the chain on the track, averted his face and waited. The train roared by and the links were crushed. Perriton put on the clothes, and for lack of a better plan, followed out the directions of the note. A bribed farmer cut off the handcuffs and carried him in a trunk to a tenement house, where a Chinaman received him. And here we leave Perriton until the next story. Episode 3: "The Double Cross" It will be remembered that John Perriton, after taking the blame of a murder to save the brother of the girl he loved, escaped to Long Island, and after a series of exciting adventures managed to evade the relentless pursuit on the part of the detective. By cleverly assuming the identity of another man, he managed to utilize preparations which had been made for the other's escape. The Chinese opium joint to which Perriton was finally brought proved to have disadvantages in addition to its obvious advantage as a haven of refuge. Before he had been there a week, Perriton was forced to join a band of criminals to avoid instant betrayal to the police. A foxy-eyed little lawyer named Lipmann, and a burly "strong-arm" man named "Biceps" were the chief agents in the present scheme of Perriton's new associates. The scheme was gorgeously simple. An advertisement was inserted in the newspapers to the effect that an heiress desired to meet a wealthy young farmer with matrimonial inclinations. The wealthy young farmer had already been found. It remained to arrange the details of taking his money away from him. According to the plan, Perriton was to act as the girl's brother. It was arranged that a letter should be sent to the man, directing him to come to the supposed home of his intended bride with a certified check as a proof of his wealth. The plan worked out beautifully. The young man called at the beautiful apartment which the gang had arranged, and was agreeably surprised by the appearance of the girl. Curiously enough, two things happened for which the gang had made no provision. For one thing, the girl fell in love with the man she was supposed to cheat. For another, Perriton had firmly resolved from the beginning that he would in some way upset the scheme. Owing largely to his endeavors, the girl confessed her duplicity to the young man, and was forgiven by him. To escape from "Biceps," who was waiting outside the door, the pair left the room by the fire escape. When "Biceps" rushed in and started shooting at the escaping couple, Perriton crept up behind him and knocked him unconscious. Then Perriton escaped by way of the dumb waiter. When the astounded police broke in they found nothing but the body of the "Biceps." Episode 4: "The Light on the Wall" When "John Pottle," fugitive from justice, helped Jennie and Harry Horn to escape from the band of criminals which was planning to get Harry's money by using Jennie as a lure, he did so in the fond hope that he would be able to severe his connection with the aforesaid criminals for good. But fate ruled otherwise. Jennie, discovering that Biceps, one of the leading spirits of the hand, had tracked her husband and herself to their refuge, implored John for help. John, trusting that Biceps had not yet found out who had been responsible for the knock-down blow which resulted in the escape of the pair, went directly to Lipmann, the lawyer who was the brains of the criminal organization, and told him that the reason for his absence from the meetings of the gang was on account of being obliged to hide from the vigilant police. Somewhat to John's surprise, Lipmann accepted his flimsy excuses without question. He told John that the gang had decided that Jennie must be punished for her double-dealing, and directed him to be present at a meeting to be held that night aboard a barge in the river. John, hoping to be of some service to Jennie, attended the meeting. His hopes were not realized to any large extent. He discovered that Lipmann had not been fooled at all by his excuses, and escaped from the barge only by besting Biceps in a terrible fight. The next day John found a notice in the personal column of a newspaper, signed with his name, directing Jennie to call at a certain address. Realizing that the notice was a trap for the girl, John hastened to the address mentioned. He arrived too late to save Jennie, and was captured himself in an attempt to rescue her. The two were securely bound and placed in a room on the top floor of the house. Here, they were suavely informed by Lipmann that they would be thrown into the river shortly after dark. By almost superhuman exertions, John succeeded in getting Jennie's handbag in his bound hands, and flashing sunlight into the eyes of a tailor across the street by means of the mirror on the bag. Rescued by the tailor, John and the girl hastened away to find some haven where they would be safe from their powerful enemies. Episode 5: "With His Hands" Through the help of Jennie, the girl he had saved from the hands of the gangsters, John Perriton was enabled to get a position as a riveter's helper in the construction company in which Jennie herself was employed. So Perriton, still under his alias of "John Pottle" entered upon new duties, which were as strenuous as they were unfamiliar. Shortly after Perriton's arrival at the works, a good deal of trouble was caused by the unwarrantable discharge of several of the employees. Recognizing John's intellectual superiority, the men chose him as a spokesman to express their grievances to their employers. Carter, the head of the works, was a hard unjust man with no regard whatever for the rights of the men working under him. When John courteously told him of the men's grievances, he cursed him roundly, and ordered him back to work. Realizing the power a man of John's type would gain among the men, Carter called a private detective, named Brownson, and ordered him to discover some pretext on which John might be discharged. He dared not discharge the man without any reason, because he knew that it would take very little in the existing state of discontent to precipitate a general strike. Brownson's scheme to ruin John Pottle was very simple. He took a piece of dynamite and put it in John's lunch basket. Then he complained to the police inspector that he suspected John of a plot to blow up part of the works. But Jennie, owing to her position in the company's office, had learned of the plot and managed to extract the stick of dynamite from the lunch basket. When John was seized and searched, no incriminating evidence of any sort was found upon him. Jennie told him of the plot, and John set out post-haste to interview Brownson. He found him on the top girder of the great building the company was constructing. Brownson attacked him with a hammer, and a fierce hand-to-hand conflict followed. Brownson was the stronger man, and gradually forced John over the edge. At last John lost his last finger-hold and fell. Brownson lost his balance and fell after him. Luckily enough, John was saved from Brownson' s fate by striking another girder. After he had been taken to the hospital, Jennie sent for Mary Wales, the girl for whose sake John had given up everything in life. But when Mary came to the hospital and saw Jennie bending tenderly above John, she did not understand, and went away without a word. Episode 6: "The Gap" While Perriton, alias "John Pottle'' was recovering from the injuries he had received in his life and death struggle with Brownson, the detective, Earle, the superintendent of the construction company, called to inquire after his injuries. While talking to Jennie, the girl Perriton had saved from the gang of criminals, Earle admitted that he could stand Carter, the president of the company, no longer. He went on to tell her that if he could find a partner with money, he would undertake the important contract on the Warrington Courthouse, himself. After Earle had left, Jennie discussed the situation with Henry Horn, her husband, and Perriton. Horn decided that he would be willing to advance the money for the courthouse proposition, so Jennie started out for the offices of the construction company to find Earle. In the company offices, she learned that President Carter had discharged Earle that morning. From a letter on Carter's desk, she gained absolute proof that the construction company was planning to get the courthouse contract by bribery. Incidentally, she learned that Earle was leaving for the west on the 12:45 train. After a rather unpleasant encounter with Carter, Jennie hurried back to Perriton and her husband. They decided that their only course was to stop Earle. Stopping Earle seemed, on the face of it, an utter impossibility, since they could not possibly reach the station by 12:45. But John Perriton was nothing, if not resourceful. He realized that the train would have to go over a near-by draw-bridge. If the draw-bridge were open, the train would, of course, be held up. So jumping into a taxicab, they rushed off to the drawbridge. It was closed. The train was almost due. The drawbridge tender suavely informed Perriton that the bridge could on no account be opened unless a boat wished to pass through. With his heart in his mouth, Perriton rushed to a tug which was moored close by, and offered the captain twenty-five dollars to take him to the other side of the bridge. The captain naturally thought John was crazy, but accepted his offer just the same. Putting out into the stream, he whistled for the crew. The bridge slowly opened, and the 12:45 train which had just reached it, was stopped. Jennie found Earle and explained everything to him. Then the four partners hurried back to the city to begin their battle with Carter. Episode 7: "Face to Face" In the weeks following Perriton's dashing and successful attempt to stop Earle's train, the four partners, Perriton, Jenny, Henry Horn and Earle, despite the determined opposition of President Carter, managed to land the court house contract which meant so much to them. A newspaper paragraph, seen by chance, changed their comfortable feeling of assurance to vivid alarm. The paragraph was to the effect that, owing to the determined efforts of President Carter, a bill was on the verge of passing the legislature, restricting all state contracts to residents of the state. Since none of the four was a resident of the state in which the court house was to be built, the bill. If passed, would be certain to ruin them. Knowing Carter's methods, Perriton decided that the best means of blocking the passage of the bill was to bring forward proof that Carter had been guilty of bribery. In order to keep a close watch over their enemy, an office was hired in the building next to the construction company, with windows directly opposite those of Carter's office. By means of a high-powered telescope, the partners obtained ample optical proof that Carter had bought the services of several members of the legislature. They discovered also that an actual transfer of money was to take place that very night in Carter's country house. Unknown to Perriton, Carter had a hold over Mary Wales, the girl Perriton loved. A document forged by Nelson, her scapegrace of a brother, had fallen into Carter's possession. Fearing to take the money to the corrupt legislators himself, he decided to use the girl and her brother as cats paws. So, using the forged mortgage as an incentive, he directed Mary and her brother to take the money and deliver it to the proper parties at his country house. So it happened that when Perriton burst into the house ahead of Earle and the detectives, he was confronted face to face by the girl for whose sake he had given up position and reputation. There was no time for love. Turning, he slammed the door in the faces of his friends, and then lowered Mary to the ground through the window. He had the proofs of bribery, and it was absolutely impossible that the detectives should find Mary in any such situation. Episode 8: "A Matter of Minutes" It will be remembered that Nelson Wales had put his sister into considerable danger and difficulty on account of the fact that the amiable young man had forged her name to a mortgage. John Perriton, the man who disappeared for Mary's sake, saved her from an unpleasant situation. The next day he came to the Wales' house to call Nelson to account. Confronted by his sister and the angry Perriton, Nelson, at first, attempted to bluster his way out of the situation. When that failed to produce the desired impression, he locked Perriton and Mary into a room, and telephoned to the police that he had captured John Perriton, the murderer. While they were locked in the room, John told Mary the truth about the murder, that Nelson had killed the butler, and that he, Perriton, had shouldered the responsibility for her sake. Mary, filled with horror, nonetheless believed Perriton's story. The police arrived at the front door, and John escaped through the window, directing Mary to meet him at a certain station on the railway line. John climbed to the roof by means of a rain spout, and after a desperate race with the detectives, succeeded in completely eluding them. At Nelson's suggestion, the detectives, foiled in their pursuit of Perriton, turned their attention to his sister. They followed her aboard the express train which she took to keep her appointment with Perriton. Mary, discovering that she was followed, sent a telegram to the train she knew Perriton had taken, telling him that she would elude the detectives, and would meet him at Vernontown, a junction point, where they could catch a north-bound express. Mary succeeded in eluding the detectives, by the clever ruse of leaving the train, and quickly slipping back aboard just as it was starting. Meanwhile Perriton's train had broken down. Realizing that everything depended on making the connection Mary had planned, he was at his wits' end. The accident to the train would certainly make him miss the connection. An aeroplane meet in the vicinity of the accident solved the difficulty. Perriton hired an aeroplane just as the express came into sight. Mounting into the air, the great birdlike machine raced for miles against the speeding train, and reached Vernontown in time. Episode 9: "The Living Dead" When John Perriton and Mary Wales fled to Albany to escape her brother, Nelson, and the detective, that amiable young man had set on their track, their first plan was to take the express for Montreal. The fact that Mary recognized her brother and the detective on the train made them realize the futility of attempting to escape across the border. After some thought, they decided that their wisest plan was to return to New York. Accordingly they took one of the steamboats running down the Hudson. Nelson Wales and the detective, after going through Albany with a fine-tooth comb, decided that there was no use in looking further. Accordingly, they came aboard the same boat Mary and John had taken. That night at dinner. Nelson looked across the tables, and saw Perriton and Mary. Filled with triumph, he ordered the detective to arrest the supposed murderer. Perriton, realizing the uselessness of resistance, quietly submitted to being locked up in his stateroom. Mary, whose stateroom was next, racked her brains to think of a way to rescue him. The detective, eager to make assurance doubly sure, stationed himself at John's door, and the situation seemed hopeless. At last, she examined the wall of the stateroom and discovering that the panels were fastened in place with screws. Inspired by a gleam of hope, she unscrewed one of the panels. John crawled through the gap. Affairs were improved, but still almost hopeless. But Mary's quick brain met the difficulty. Under her directions, John waited until she had left the stateroom, and then cautiously followed. Just as she came opposite to the detective and her brother, Mary pretended to faint. They naturally rushed to her assistance, and in the moment they did so, John shot past them, and rushing to the stern of the boat, jumped overboard. After a long, hard swim, he reached shore in an exhausted condition. Mary, on the boat, had been unable to see whether or not he reached the bank. She feared the worst, however, and her joy may be imagined, when John Perriton, safe and sound, came to her in New York. Episode 10: "By the Aid of a Film" John Perriton gave up his place in society and disappeared for the sake of Mary Wales. Her brother, Nelson, had been surprised by the butler in an attempt to steal Mary's jewels. In the fight which ensued, Nelson killed the butler. Perriton happened to enter at this moment, and with the chivalrous motive of saving the name of the girl he loved from disgrace, assumed the responsibility for Nelson's deed, and fled. After a series of thrilling adventures, Perriton was at last arrested as a result of the malevolence of Nelson Wales, the man he saved. Mary, now firmly convinced of her lover's innocence, and her brother's guilt, added her brains to Perriton's in the attempt to find some way of proving his innocence. The attempt seemed hopeless. Nelson was the only witness. Perriton had just as strong a motive for stealing the jewels, and Perriton was the one who had fled from justice. Perriton decided to steal a page from "Hamlet" and see if the play might not be the thing to catch the guilty conscience of Nelson Wales. Under his direction, Mary hired a motion picture company and took it to the Wales' estate. Here she caused three of the actors to make up exactly like the principals of the tragedy, and had the entire scene acted in accordance with Perriton's directions. When the film was completed, Nelson was put in a darkened room, and the picture was flashed on the screen before him. The exact reproduction of his crime was too much for his weakened nerves. Mad with fear, he attacked the phantom figures with a chair, and was promptly arrested by the concealed police. He made a full confession of his crime, and died of heart failure. John Perriton's vagabond life was finally at an end. He was enabled to take again the position he had forfeited. Three months after Nelson's death he married Mary. END
- George Crosby, a New York lawyer, with a passion for painting, wearied of his legal duties, sails for Brittany, where he meets Renée Kerouac, a fisher-maiden, and sketches her as a Corregan, a fairy who destroys the men who refuse her love. Hoel Kalloc, her betrothed, becomes jealous, and George marries her, after saving her from Hoel's brutality. He soon realizes her inferiority and the impossibility of introducing her as his wife; so he sends her to a convent to be educated, promising to send for her as soon as she has acquired the polish necessary in his sphere of life. Returning to America, he keeps his marriage a secret and is struggling to forget, when he receives a note that a girl, who she has named after him, has been born to her. George later meets Cynthia Ford, with whom he falls in love, and on receiving word of the death of Renée and the baby in a fire in the convent, they become betrothed. However, during the following winter, Renée reappears, and when George denies that he knows her, she leaves her baby in the care of her landlady and goes away. The next morning in the snow in front of their house the Crosbys find her body. Clutched in her hand is the crucifix George had given her, on the back of which had been scratched the word "pardon." The landlady identifies her as the mother of the baby who has been left in her care, and George, placing the crucifix around the baby's neck, pays the landlady to take care of her. Four years pass and a daughter, Georgianna is born to Cynthia and George. In the meantime, Georgette wanders away from the landlady's home and is adopted by a barge captain. Raoul Kerouac, now a French naval officer, comes to inquire for his lost sister, Renée. Seeing Cynthia's child, he mistakes her for Georgette. George writes a confession, revealing the truth, but Cynthia destroys the confession without reading it, on account of her faith in George. Sixteen years later, George is now Judge Crosby, while Georgette has secretly married Val, the reprobate son of Mrs. Lewis, in whose home she is employed as a maid. In an effort to cure him of his love for drink, his mother sends Val away, and Georgette is left alone. A girl is brought before Judge Crosby, charged with murdering her baby, and her conviction seems assured. Among the evidence is a crucifix with the word "pardon" scratched on the back. The judge is seized with apoplexy, as realizing the prisoner is his daughter, he sentences her to death. He has pronounced his last sentence. Cynthia's love for George survives all else; she strives to secure Georgette's freedom, and finally gets word to Val in the far north, whose answer states the baby is safe with him. Val returns with the baby, and he and Georgette sail for Brittany on their belated honeymoon. For the first time in years, George's heart is lightened, although his body is distorted with pain.
- Good old Jan Vedder has set his mind on having for a son-in-law, the good-for-nothing Nick, the town lounger. The fancy Vedder has taken for Nick cannot be overcome by his daughter, Katrina, and the minute she shows signs of caring for an English officer he becomes more determined than ever that she shall marry Nick. First we see Nick calling on old Vedder and when Katrina enters the room, he tries to kiss her. For this he receives a sound slap and Katrina rushes from the room in anger. On her return, Jan and Nick having gone out, her anger soon turns to smiles as she sees her British sweetheart, through the window, coming to make an afternoon call. So intent is their love making that they do not bear Vedder return. Seeing the much-hated British cap, he not only throws it out of the door, but orders the lover from the house. A few evenings later after Nick has been to call on the old man, Vedder enters his house to behold his daughter waving to the officer, The old Dutchman is completely upset and getting the blunderbuss he fires: but his aim is bad and the Britisher, who had anticipated his act, had hidden in the bushes and was in no way injured. The father decides that Katrina must marry at once; Nick is notified and the time is set. The officer learning of the coming wedding is at a loss what to do, but "love finds a way." He goes to a tavern for his ale and there discovers the bridegroom in an awful state of intoxication, asleep. With a little more ale he induces him to change clothes with him and all looks better. At the pastor's he is mistaken for Nick by the near-sighted Vedder and the wedding proceeds. All goes well until Nick appears on the scene accompanied by an officer who has arrested him for his drunken condition while wearing the British uniform. When Vedder sees the real situation he goes into an awful temper, but finally realizes it is all for the best and the couple is forgiven.
- When John Flynn saved the life of Ellen Ryan's little sister, he laid the foundations of a warm friendship which soon ripened into love. Ellen was a thoroughly nice girl. Her efforts to keep her small family together were tremendously hampered by the one great sorrow of her life, a drunken father. Peter Ryan was a gentle, kindly old man, and also a very weak old man. He had made alcohol a staff to lean upon and now after many years of dependence upon it, found that his feeble will could not subsist without it. When Bill Moffat learned that Ellen cared more for John Flynn than she did for him he laid a careful plot to ruin the policeman in the girl's estimation. Moffat knew that Ellen had been taking charge of her father's wages for some time. He knew the old man was almost crazy with the desire for drink. So Moffat deliberately put temptation in old Peter's path. He refuses to lend him any money, but left his fat bank roll within easy reach of the old man's shaking hand. Peter Ryan fell. He took Moffat's money and hastened with it to a saloon. Luckily Ellen intercepted him at the very entrance and took him home. Meanwhile Moffat hastened to John Flynn and telling him that an unnamed person had stolen money from him, demanded his assistance. Confronted by Ellen and the evidently guilty Peter, Flynn casting his duty to the winds, refused to arrest the poor old man on the strength of Moffat's testimony. Flynn was suspended from the force. Moffat went to Ellen and told her that he would not prosecute her father. Flynn had been the object of his plot and now that Flynn was ruined he was willing to let the matter drop. Ellen and her father hurried to the Police Commissioner's office and there the trembling old man poured out the true story of the whole affair. The Police Commissioner was a kind man and a just man. After a careful consideration of the matter, he restored Flynn to the two things he cared for most, Ellen and "the force."
- It was just one hundred years ago that the national anthem of the United States came into existence. In this film we have attempted to present the dramatic events which led to its creation, in a realistic and accurate manner. When the combined military and naval forces of the British were threatening Washington during the fall of 1814, President Madison, fearing for the safety of the Declaration of Independence, sent it, in the care of Captain Potter, his aide, to the commandant of Fort McHenry at Baltimore. On his way to Baltimore, Potter stopped at the house of Dr. Beanes. While they were at dinner, a British reconnoitering party, consisting of General Ross and his aides, invested the house. Potter and Helen Beanes took refuge behind a secret panel in the dining room. From this position, Potter heard General Ross say that Baltimore would be attacked by land and sea within two days. To save Dr. Beanes from torture when the Captain's hat was discovered. Potter jumped from his hiding place, and, after holding the British officers at the point of his pistol, escaped. Dr. Beanes was taken aboard the British cartel ship, while Potter delivered his mission and warning of the British attack to the commandant of Fort McHenry. Helen Beanes appealed to President Madison to help her father, and the President sent one of his aides, and a certain Francis Scott Key to interview Admiral Cockburn. Admiral Cockburn agreed to release the doctor, but insisted that both Americans should remain aboard the cartel ship "Minden" until the forthcoming battle was over. So Key was forced to watch the long bombardment of Fort McHenry throughout the long night. "The rockets' red glare; The bombs bursting in air; Gave proof through the night; That our flag was still there." But towards morning, the fire of the fort slackened, and Key feared it had surrendered. His feelings, when the first rays of the sun fell on the fluttering flag are embodied in the great song he wrote for his country.
- Mr. Bookley was so much interested in books that there was little room in his thoughts for anything else. Whether he was shaving, or dressing, or eating, or merely walking on the street, was all the same. He never had his mind on what he was doing. Thus it was that he would attempt to mix lather in his silk hat or would put the soapy brush in his mouth, or eat soup with a fork. If it had not often been for the fact that he had a remarkably capable valet, there would be no doubt that Mr. Bookley would have one day succeeded in one of his numerous attempts to leave the house clad in his pajamas or whatever article of apparel he might chance to be wearing when the thought struck him. Gwendolyn was a clerk in the bookstore which Mr. Bookley most frequently visited. Between Ernest and George, two other clerks, a jealous rivalry was maintained with Gwendolyn as the object. Ernest, who feared his rival's good looks and polished manner, was filled with delight when Gwendolyn accepted. Just before taking her to dinner. Ernest discovered a hole in his trousers' pocket, and transferred his money to the pocket of his overcoat. Mr. Bookley happened to be dining at the little restaurant when Ernest and Gwendolyn arrived. Leaving, a little while later, he gave a striking demonstration of mental abstraction by taking Ernest's coat with him. When Ernest came to pay the bill, he therefore discovered that his overcoat and money were alike absent. To put the crowning touch on his embarrassment, George appeared, paid Gwendolyn's bill, and took her away with him. When Mr. Bookley discovered his mistake, he was overcome with regret. When he learned into what depths of misery his absent-mindedness had plunged poor Ernest, he immediately resolved to mend matters, so he took Ernest to a jeweler's shop, and insisted on the young man accepting the magnificent engagement ring which he bought. The next day he went to the bookstore, and with much show of anger, threatened to have Ernest discharged. Gwendolyn came to the young man's assistance, and Mr. Bookley after he had seen the young man place the ring on the girl's finger, chuckled and left them together.
- Prof. Dislow and his daughter, Ruth, are passengers on the trading vessel Barbuda. It's soon revealed that the crew was infiltrated by gangsters scheming to steal the cargo. With all the men bound and gagged, what can Ruth do about it?
- Krishna Dhwaj, the son of the Maharajah of Rhamput, is in love with Lakshima, the daughter of the Maharajah of Bhartari, but their fathers will not allow them to marry. Krishna is then sent to Harvard to get an American education. Lakshima, determined to kill herself when her father orders her to marry an old man, jumps into the ocean. She does not drown, however, but is rescued by George Morling, a Bostonian, who smuggles her on board his ship dressed in boy's clothing. George, the son of a minister, is engaged to a proper Bostonian woman. Although he has not behaved improperly, George fears that his fiancé and her father will not understand the situation, and so he hides Lakshima in a trunk. Once back in Boston, George's fiancé discovers Lakshima and is horrified, but after several misunderstandings, George and his fiancé are reconciled, and Lakshima is able to find and marry her Indian sweetheart Krishna.
- Theodore Bragg, Esq., enters an Italian fruit shop, sees the Misses Stell and Ethel Jenkins and tries to win by flirtation these two daughters of the East Side. As he leaves the shop with amorous eyes centered upon the girls he runs into Long Green and Tad. Tad gives Bragg a sound beating but he is finally rescued by Long Green. Later he is seen in a corner saloon relating to his friends how, in an affair of honor, he rescued two young and lovely ladies from the insults of two brutal ruffians. The scene fades into the shop where he performed the "gallant rescue" and later owing to his eloquence at the bar of justice, the ruffians are sentenced to eighty-five years imprisonment. The tender, cooing young ladies receive him into their home and bestow upon him evidences of their warmest affections. Again the scene fades into the saloon where Bragg concludes his tale. Abruptly Long Green and Tad enter. Tad makes a great effort to lick Bragg again but is prevented by Long Green. Bragg makes a dash for the door but is drawn back by his friends who make him buy drinks for all.
- When Prince Stepan Norski decided that he would rather marry the Countess Maritza than preserve his rights as a member of the royal family of Balkia, the king, his father, was highly indignant. But Prince Stepan remained unmoved despite the royal threats and entreaties. He married Maritza and sailed to America, where, assuming the name of Stephen North, he settled down to the life of an American businessman. Sixty years later, John North, Prince Stepan's grandson, decided to go to Europe. He had several business interests to be sure, but the main reason for his decision was the fact that Helen Bond was sailing for the continent with her mother and father, John North was very fond of Helen. Helen liked John, so there was really no reason why they shouldn't have married. But Helen's mother was ambitions. She wanted her daughter to marry a title. At just about this time the older line of Balkia came to an end with the death of King Jan IX. The nest heir to the throne was discovered to be none other than a certain John North, American citizen. The Prime Minister of the kingdom instantly set off to acquaint that young man of his good fortune. North learned of his windfall in Switzerland, whither he had followed the Bonds, in company with Arthur Merritt, a friend of his. If it hadn't been that North was desperately afraid Helen would marry a duke despite all his efforts, he probably wouldn't have listened to the minister for a moment. As it was, he decided that becoming a king was the simplest possible way of winning Helen. North was crowned and discovered that a monarch's life was a distinct bore. He was so hedged about with conventions that he could hardly breathe. But he won his reward for all the discomforts when the Bonds were presented at Court. The utter confusion of Mrs. Bond was distinctly gratifying. The affairs in Balkia speedily became in a very troubled condition. After the revolutionists had made a couple of attempts on his life, North learned the true reasons for their discontent and sympathized with them. Arthur Merritt fell in love with the Princess Senia, who the Prime Minister had decreed must marry North for political reasons. So North decided to clear matters up. He gave Senia to Merritt, declared himself in favor of a republic, abdicated and sailed for America with Helen.