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- Balduin, a student of Prague, leaves his roystering companions in the beer garden, when he finds he has reached the end of his resources. He is scarcely seated in a quiet corner when a hideous, shriveled-up old man taps him upon the shoulder and whispers vaguely of a big inheritance for Prague's finest swordsman and wildest student if he will enter into a certain agreement. Balduin rebuffs him, satirically asking his weird companion to procure him "the luckiest ticket in a lottery or a doweried wife." The old man goes off chuckling and thence onward persistently shadows Balduin, exerting a sinister influence over him, while Balduin is still disconsolate under the frowns of fortune. The Countess Margit Schwarzenberg, hunting with her cousin, to whom her father has betrothed her, meets with an accident. She is thrown over her horse's head into a river, but Balduin, who has been directed to the spot by his evil genius, plunges in and rescues her. Subsequently Balduin calls to inquire as to her condition at the castle of her father, the count, but be makes a hurried departure when Baron Waldis arrives, the contrast in their appearance discrediting him. His desire to win the countess and to humiliate the baron becomes so pronounced that he readily accedes to the compact suggested by Scapinelli, the old man, who has so pertinaciously dogged his footsteps, particularly when he learns that untold wealth and power will be his when he assigns to the other the right to take from his room whatever he chooses for his own use as he desires. The agreement is signed. Balduin receives a shower of gold and notes as his portion; Scapinelli takes Balduin's soul exposed in concrete form by his shadow. Balduin prosecutes his love affair assiduously and with apparent success, till the baron is informed of it by a jealous gypsy girl. He challenges Balduin to a duel, and the latter, assured of his superiority as a fencer, readily agrees. Count Schwarzenberg learns of the impending duel and appeals to Balduin not to kill "my sister's child, my daughter's future husband, and my heir." Balduin gives his promise, but when he goes to the venue of the duel he meets, his own counterpart stalking away derisively wiping his gory sword on his cloak. Balduin turns and in the far distance sees the dying victim of the deed he swore he would not do. He rushes from the spot horror-stricken. When he regains sufficient composure he makes his way to the castle of the count, but is refused admission. Determined to explain that he had no complicity in the death of the baron, Balduin climbs into a room in which the countess is seated. She receives him coldly, but soon succumbs to his ardent wooing. Just as he seeks to leave her she notices he has no shadow and that the mirror gives no reflection of him; and she drops back affrighted, the ghastly apparition of himself which takes shape in the corner of the room sends Balduin scuttling away from the castle in a paroxysm of terror. He makes a frenzied flight through a woodland estate and the streets of Prague, but wherever he stops to recover his breath he is haunted by the counterpart of himself. He reaches his rooms and draws a murderous looking fire-arm from its case. As the phantasmagorical figure strides towards him with a sinister grin, he fires, and in a few minutes the blood gushes from his own side from a fatal wound.
- Two love triangles intersect in ancient Pompei.
- An epic Italian film, "Quo Vadis" influenced many of the later movies.
- Financial struggles separate a single mother from her children.
- Inspector Juve is tasked to investigate and capture an infamous criminal Fantomas.
- The young daughter of an army captain missing in action runs away from school and is kidnapped by Parisian lowlifes. When the kidnapper flees to Nice with the child, the kind-hearted employee of one of his accomplices sets off in pursuit.
- With aid from her police-officer sweetheart, a woman endeavors to uncover the prostitution ring that has kidnapped her sister and the philanthropist who secretly runs it.
- After Dr. Friedrich's wife becomes mentally unstable and his research papers are rejected, he leaves the country to respite.
- After a body disappears from inside the prison, a series of crimes take place, all seemingly by the dead man. With Juve presumed dead, Fandor must investigate alone. Will Fantomas finally be brought to justice?
- In Part Two of Louis Feuillade's 5 1/2-hour epic follows Fantômas, the criminal lord of Paris, master of disguise, the creeping assassin in black, as he is pursued by the equally resourceful Inspector Juve.
- Modeled after a popular collection of stories known as "Brother Gardener's Lime Kiln Club," the plot features three suitors vying to win the hand of the local beauty.
- Based on the Edward Bulwer-Lytton novel. Set in the shadows of Mt. Vesuvius just before its famous eruption.
- An aristocratic woman, Lady Isabel, leaves her husband and children when she suspects him of adultery, a notion which had been suggested to her by the scheming and murderous Captain Levison. Life on the continent with Levison does not work out as she had envisaged so, eight years later, she returns to England and finds her husband has remarried. She cannot bear to be away from her family and so dons a disguise, gaining employment with them as a governess. When her young son, Willie, dies she is unable to comfort him as she would like, and she too dies.
- A French sailor, imprisoned for years on false charges of conpiring against the king, escapes and exacts revenge on his accusers.
- The mechanic Etienne Lantier is a competent workman out of a job, whose tempestuous disposition is more than atoned for by a good heart. With bundle in hand he looks for work from town to town and in vain until he comes to the coal mines of Montsou. Luckily for him there is a vacancy because of a workman being absent, and the foreman, Maheu, hires him at the suggestion of his daughter, Catherine, who dressed as a man is wont to work like a man in the mine. Lantier creates an impression on her and she takes his part much to the chagrin of her accepted lover, Chaval, an unworthy and violent man. Lantier fails to recognize her as a woman until after sharing her lunch with him in the depths of the mine, her hair falls from under her miner's headgear. From that moment he devotes his whole heart to her. At the end of the day's labor Lantier, who has excited a fierce jealousy in Chaval, is invited by Maheu to become a boarder at his house and he joyfully accepts. The engineer, Negrel, making his daily descent into the mine finds the shoring timbers holding up the earth in a bad state and ready to fall. He makes a report recommending that the woodwork he immediately and properly repaired so as to avoid accident. The company, however, posts a notice saying that because the woodwork has to be repaired the price received by the miners per car of coal mined will be decreased. This arbitrary and unfair notice causes much discontent and anger among the miners. A mass meeting is called for at the Cabaret Rasseneur; Souvarine, an anarchistic workman, advocates violent measures. Lantier opposes this and suggests concerted action. The anger of the workmen breaks out afresh when they begin to receive their reduced wages and urged on by Lantier, whose influence is growing, they vote to strike. In the meantime Catherine, though in love with Lantier, dares not go back on her word to Chaval and marries him. Chaval treacherously carries full information of the strike proceedings to Mr. Hennebeau, the chief director of the company, and accepts pay for being a spy. The strike is now on amid general enthusiasm. In the meantime, Negrel, the engineer, who is in love with Hennebeau's daughter, pleads with Hennebeau to answer the miners' requests. Miss Hennebeau also pleads with her father, but in vain. The stores refuse to extend credit to the striking workmen and famine soon stalks among them. Lantier discovers to his surprise that Chaval is an exception and that he has plenty of food and money. As yet he has not discovered that Chaval is the paid spy of the company. Catherine brings secretly to her starving relative food and money. Chaval follows her, drives her from the house and strikes her. Lantier seeing it interferes in her behalf, and being attacked by Chaval thoroughly thrashes him. Chaval, taking advantage of the growing misery among the miners, urges some of them back to work. While they are in the mines the other strikers cut the elevator ropes. There is a panic in the mine depths. The imprisoned miners finally escape by ladders, but have to run the gauntlet of the enraged strikers, who still hold out. When Chaval is dragged from the mine Lantier rashes at him, but Catherine steps in between and prevents harm being done to her husband. Blinded by hatred Chaval goes to Hennebeau and denounces the miners' leaders, especially Lantier. The police are called upon to arrest him, but warned in time he escapes to the abandoned shaft of Voroux. The strike becomes violent and the troops are called in to reinforce the police. In the absence of Lantier, Souvarine is called in to head the strikers. Hennebeau's house is attacked and stoned. Seeing the soldiers preparing to fire on the mob, the director's daughter rushes from the house to try and avert the coming calamity. She is caught in the storm of bullets and dies together with many of the miners and their wives, among them Catherine's father. This crushes the strikers' movement and instigated by Chaval they vote to resume work. Lantier, emerged from his refuge, tries in vain to dissuade them, but his influence is gone and bowing to the majority he also goes back to work. Souvarine, alone implacable, determines upon desperate measures. He releases the bolts binding the barriers that hold back water from flooding the mine and the flood breaks loose. He is drowned in the cataclysm that follows. The miners, caught like rats in a trap, run madly hither and thither. Some escape, others, among them Lantier, Catherine and Chaval, are caught. These latter three find themselves imprisoned in an abandoned working pit, where they sit in despair with the water up to their knees. They have little food and when after long hours Catherine attempts to give a little of her lunch to Lantier. Chaval furiously opposes. Chaval finally attempts to deprive his wife by force of her morsel of food. In righteous rage Lantier strikes him and kills him. His dead body, floating on the water, haunts them. Forgetting their animosities, directors and workmen unite in the work of rescue. Through an abandoned pit they come near to Catherine and Lantier. Their signals being answered by the prisoners they redouble their exertions. By imprudence, however, an explosion takes place, which kills many of the rescuers and sets back the work. Among those killed is Catherine's brother. When the workers finally pierce the intervening walls they find only Lantier alive, for Catherine lies dead in his arms. When the unconscious man is brought into the daylight and at last opens his eyes it is the bereaved Negrel who, with a heart of sympathy, comforts him in his grief when he sees the body of his dead sweetheart. Broken in spirit he sees injustice rule and the poor pay the piper.
- King Rudolf of Ruritania is saved from a coup attempt by the help of his lookalike cousin, who falls in love with the king's fiancee.
- Walther and his young wife, Leonie, are both great favorites of the stage. In spite of the great difference in their ages they are very happy together. During a gala performance in which Leonie plays "May," and Walther "Faust," a young actor in the company, Charles Lacour, who is seated in the actors' box, falls in love with Leonie. His passion leads him to enthusiastic applause. His ardor is noticed by Dora, the actress to whom he has been very attentive. After a reception that is given the players behind the scenes, the manager invites them all to a public. In the midst of the gaiety, Walther falls and breaks his leg. The doctor is hopeful of a complete recovery, but to the actor it means that his career is over. Walther's despair increases as the months pass. He is deeply disturbed by Lacour's attention to Leonie and believes that she baa encouraged him. Many disagreeable scenes are enacted between the couple. Leonie realizes all that Walther suffers and excuses him, but it is difficult for her to refuse the attentions of Lacour. At the theater, Leonie and Lacour are to act together, A revolver, which is to be used in the play, is placed on Lacour's dressing table. The jealous Dora sees this and also Lacour, when he gives Leonie a bouquet. Dora goes to Lacour to remind him of their past relations, but he spurns her. She resolves to be revenged. Walther is in his wife's dressing room when Leonie enters with Lecour's flowers. There is a scene when the husband picks up a note which drops from the bouquet and reads, " - Better for us both to make an end of it than to live on in this way." He seizes a revolver and rushes to Lacour's room, where he finds Dora. While waiting the manager enters. During the interruption Dora changes the two revolvers. Lacour soon after comes in, takes the loaded revolver and hurries to the stage. Dora sees that her revenge is at hand. The accident occurs on the stage. Lacour shoots Leonie. The theater is thrown into confusion. The manager rushes for Walther, who in his excitement leaves the compromising note in the dressing room. Dora finds the note and gives it to a detective, who arrests Lacour, Leonie, though seriously wounded, recovers. During her convalescence, Dora visits her and tells her of Lacour's arrest. Walther and Leonie have a stormy scene. "I have never deceived you," Leonie cries, "It is your duty to save Lacour from suffering punishment for a crime he has not committed." The husband promises to do all that is in his power. Dora, overcome by remorse, goes to the judge and confesses. Lacour is released. He meets Leonie for a last farewell. Walther is present and perceives where his duty lies. He writes a note to Leonie telling her that he and not Lacour must say, "Farewell." His note ends, " - I have no right to be in your way. I set you free."
- Back from a crusade, the hero of Sir Walter Scott's novel fights for courtly love and Saxon honor.
- After the murder of her lover Julius Caesar, Egypt's queen Cleopatra needs a new ally. She seduces his probable successor Mark Antony. This develops into real love and slowly leads to a war with the other possible successor, Octavius.
- Gerard, the eldest son of a wealthy family, is destined by his father for the church, although his own inclinations lie elsewhere. The young fellow is a born artist. His first success comes when he reads of the announcement of a public competition in which a big prize is to be paid for the best picture. It is at this period that he meets Margaret and her aged father. He falls in love with Margaret, and their fast-growing affection is viewed with great concern by the burgomaster of Rotterdam who is keeping in his possession some valuable parchments which relate to Margaret's fortune. Gerard's affection is discovered by his father, who sternly reprimands him, bidding him to think of the vocation in life that he has to fill. Gerard defies his father and family, and goes to his patroness, who, on hearing his story, tells him to put aside all ideas of priesthood for the present, and that she will pay for him to go to Rome and study art. Gerard gratefully accepts the offer, but at the same time he determines that before he leaves, he will wed Margaret secretly. In the meantime his father has been to the burgomaster, attempting to put the law in force against his disobedient son. The burgomaster, fearing for himself if the union between Gerard and Margaret should come to pass, promises his aid. Accordingly Gerard is torn from the arms of his newly-made bride at the very foot of the altar. He is imprisoned in the burgomaster's house. But thanks to the efforts of Margaret and his sister and crippled brother, he makes his escape. While escaping he accidentally discloses a trapdoor which conceals the secret hiding-place of the burgomaster's papers, and thinking that some of them will be useful to him in his work as an artist, he fills his pockets full. He finds on examination that one of them is the actual document relating to Margaret's fortune, and he keeps this, giving the others to Margaret to bury in the garden. He then sets out for Rome and on his way falls in with Denys of Burgundy, a Burgundian soldier of fortune. A friendship springs up between the gentle artist and the rough soldier. Then follows the attempted murder of the two men in the inn by the rascally landlord and his two accomplices, from which Gerard and his companion emerge victorious. Gerard arrives at Rome, and continues his studies. In the meantime his brothers, who have always been jealous of him, discover his whereabouts, and with the connivance of the burgomaster, send a letter to him to the effect that Margaret is dead. This information drives Gerard to such a state of despair that when his life is attempted by an assassin who is bribed to kill him by Princess Cloelia, whose overtures he has rejected. He offers no resistance, but the assassin overcome with remorse drops his dagger and flees from the scene. A year elapses, and Gerard, now a priest, returns to his own country. He is summoned to the death-bed of an old hermit and when he dies. Gerard takes up his life in the old man's cave. His wife comes to the spot to pray, and recognizes Gerard by a birthmark on his hand. The unfortunate man then learns for the first time that he has been deceived, that his wife is alive and that he has a son five years old. When he realizes the extent of the treacherous trick that has been played upon him, he bursts in upon his family and denounces his brothers. The rage of his father knows no bounds, and he is with difficulty restrained from slaying the son who has wrecked his elder brother's life. He next visits the burgomaster, and by the aid of the incriminating parchment, which he has kept all these years, forces him to restore Margaret's fortune. This, however, is the most he can do, and, after taking an agonizing farewell of his wife and child, he is forced to go out in the world alone, for there is no power that can absolve him from the duties of his holy calling, nor is it possible for a man to mix again with the world over whose head the sacred words have been spoken, "Thou art a priest forever, after the order of Melchisedech."
- Episode 2: "Zingo and the White Elephant" Zingo and his wife, Sari, who are returning from their adventures in Mexico, when Zingo learns from his newspaper that the Royal Elephant of Siam has been stolen and for whose return a large reward will be paid. Not content with settling down to a quiet domestic life, he persuades Sari and his good crew to aid him in finding this white elephant. In the Royal Square of the Capitol of Siam, he reviews the troops which are all comprised of women, which is the custom there. The Prime Minister bids Zingo and his men to visit the Royal Harem. Here they are captured by the troops and are about to be tortured to death when Sari, disguised as a colonel in the army, aids them in escaping. They find the province of Chokuff where the white elephant has been secreted, and catching the Prince making love to Sari, they demand the white elephant. He promises, but traps them all in his dungeon. They are all, but Zingo, placed in barrels with their heads protruding. Zingo files away the bars of his cage, and rolls the barrels by the guards, who are in a stupor from opium smoking. He swims down the river, towing his crew in the barrels. After a fierce encounter with the Prince of Chokuff's army, he attacks the Royal barge in the Blud River, and after a bitter struggle in which he disposes of the entire crew by throwing them overboard, he captures the white elephant and recovers his faithful Sari. He returns the sacred elephant to the King of Siam, and after a big reception by royalty and the populace, Zingo is awarded rich treasures for his noble work. Episode 3: "Zingo in Africa" After returning from Asia with his jolly band of tars, laden with gold and precious stones as a reward for his clever work in recovering the Sacred White Elephant of Siam, Zingo thought he would never again feel the call of the sea, and he didn't for several months. But the wanderlust fever soon returned, and taking his wife as his sole companion, he set out for the wilds of Africa in search of fresh adventures. From this point on, let us follow Zingo down the Nile, and record his hairbreadth escapes. Selecting a likely spot, Zingo and Sari, his wife, make camp. Hearing piercing shrieks just back of their tent, they don bear skins and hasten to the spot in time to prevent the execution of two beautiful native girls by a band of savages. The two girls now become members of Zingo's party, happy to serve their gallant protector. The next day Zingo puts on his armored hunting suit to battle with hungry lions, who have been prowling about the camp. After an hour's terrific struggle with a pair of lions, Zingo returns to find his party gone, and many evidences of a struggle. Suspecting that they have been kidnapped by roving gorillas, Zingo sets off through the forest and eventually comes to the bottom of a large tree sheltering the crudely made gorilla nest. Having a smattering of monkey chatter, he quickly gains an entrance to the nest, and there discovers his wife and the girls more frightened than harmed. The good-natured gorillas listen attentively while Zingo explains that they must proceed up the Nile in their power boat, and they bid the party an affectionate farewell. During an inspection of the Pyramids, Zingo and his party encounter some knavish artists, who drug him and make love to Sari and the native girls. Zingo is boxed up and sold to a London professor as a rare specimen, and does not regain his senses until weeks later. After startling the assembled professors out of their wits, he charters an aeroplane and flies back to Egypt overnight in time to punish the cringing artists and save Sari and her servants from further insult. Then with a last fond look down the Nile River, Zingo and his party board the aeroplane and sail back to Paris. Episode 4: "Zingo's War in the Clouds" Zingo, while working and studying over the prospectus of the Eldorado Mine in his library in Paris, is visited by his faithful crew, who are restless from lying in port and beg of him to put to sea in search of new adventures. Zingo agrees to their proposal, and decides to submit a gigantic scheme to the Eldorado Directorate for working their mine. Arriving in Mexico, he finds the mine operators are entertaining a scheme presented to them by one, Fileas Fogg. Zingo exposes Fogg's crookedness and is awarded the contract for working the mine. In order to study the country around the mines, Zingo and his wife, Sari, erect huts in a nearby river to live in. Fogg, enraged at Zingo for exposing him, with the aid of a savage Indian tribe, attacks Zingo in his river home, and after a thrilling encounter, captures Zingo and Sari. They are bound hand and foot and told they are to be executed the next morning. A pretty Indian girl sets Zingo free in the night, and rides off with him. Zingo calls on the Federal army and is honored by being given the rank of commanding officer, After reviewing his troops and submarine guards. Zingo attacks Fogg's troops, who use chloroform bombs and a special pneumatic sucker to repel his army. Zingo's submarine troops attack Fogg's deep water divers and after a severe encounter in the depths, Zingo's men are victorious. Vanquished under the sea, Fogg takes refuge in a huge motor balloon with Sari still in his power. After a most thrilling battle in which a dozen types of balloons are used, Zingo's dirigible manages to catch Fogg, and after transferring Sari, he cuts the ropes suspending the basket from the bag, and Fogg drops into eternity. Zingo sights his yacht directly below him and by lowering a rope and making it fast to the mast, they all descend and are joyously received by the crew. Zingo promises all to return home after settling up his business affairs in Mexico.
- Spartacus sold as a slave rises up and battles the evil Crassus.
- The cruel captain of a schooner dominates the shipwreck victims he picks up.
- The story of the great German composer, from his childhood through his great triumphs in orchestral and operatic music.
- First feature length French film adaptation of the story of former convict Jean Valjean who is hunted down by ruthless inspector Javert in mid 19th century France. Released in four parts, like a serial.
- A suffragist exposes a corrupt political boss who had compromised her lawyer fiancé.
- An employee of an iron works is fired as a dangerous agitator, and after his friend dies in an explosion at the iron works, he runs for governor on a labor ticket.
- A Martian is sentenced to visit Earth to cure a selfish man.
- Bernard, under the assumed name of Count DaMora, is a spy, who wins the love of Blanche, the daughter of General Alberti. The general is entrusted with the keeping of a new bomb and the plans for making it, and Bernard is endeavoring to steal them. He calls on Blanche, presses a bouquet of flowers saturated with chloroform to her nostrils, enters the general's room and accomplishes his purpose. Blanche revives and goes in pursuit. Bernard sails on a steamer. Blanche misses the boat, but overtakes it in an aeroplane, dropping into the water from the airship and being pulled abroad by the sailors. A thrilling encounter takes place when she confronts Bernard in his stateroom with a revolver in her hand, but a fire breaks out, diverting her attention for a moment and he leap» upon her and overpowers her. He binds her and rushes to the deck, where the frantic and panic-stricken passengers are trying to make their escape from the burning craft. An awe-inspiring scene of a blazing vessel is shown. A number of explosions take place, and the huge craft dives to the bottom of the sea. Blanche is saved by working herself free of the bonds and leaping into the water, where she clings to wreckage. She is picked up by Wilkinson, a wealthy man cruising in his yacht. He offers his aid, and the two go to Bernard's country. Blanche disguises herself sufficiently to carry out a plan she has formulated, and meets Bernard. He calls the police to arrest her as a spy, but she disclaims his acquaintance, and when Wilkinson insists that she is his wife, Bernard is forced to the conclusion that the resemblance is only a strange coincidence. Blanche makes Bernard fall in love with her and makes on appointment in his home. Wilkinson accompanies her as her chauffeur, and waits outside. Blanche drugs the wine of Bernard, and as he is lapsing into unconsciousness she makes known her identity. She recovers the bombs and plans, and, leaping from the window into the automobile, whirls away. The police pursue in another automobile and a running pistol fight takes place. Wilkinson and Blanche reach a waiting aeroplane and fly away just out of reach of the bullets of their pursuers. They restore the articles to the general, whose honor is thus saved, and who willingly gives his consent when Wilkinson asks for the hand of Blanche.
- A blacksmith's adopted son is accused of killing his cardsharping brother.
- The story of a man's gratitude to a snake for saving his life: He takes the snake home to live with him and then conceives the idea of having the snake kill the man who stole his sweetheart. He places it in the other man's bed. But when the little daughter of the girl he had once loved creeps into the bed, he has a change of heart.
- A Parisian doctor, infatuated with the wife of his benefactor, drugs and kidnaps her, and tries to convince the husband that she is dead.
- Lord Shiva blesses Bhasmasur with the power to burn anyone by placing his hand on their head. When the demon decides to misuse it against the former, Lord Vishnu decides to teach him a lesson.
- Nymphs and gods and their foul play.
- The life of Queen Victoria.
- A peasant girl sent to make a claim on her family's ancestral home in England's Wessex is seduced and left with child by its current owner.
- Henri is surrounded by fawning courtiers, who hide behind their smiles a deadly intent to do away with him at the first opportunity in favor of his brother, Duc d'Anjou. There is but one man who is honestly Henri's friend. This man is Chicot the Jester, a huge, handsome, fearless fellow, true as steel, to those who called him friend, deadly as venom to those who dared betray him or his sovereign, and the only person who may speak the truth to the king. Chicot the Jester is given an order by the king for the arrest of the gallant Count De Bussy, whose deserved popularity with the ladies of the court irritates the petulant Henri constantly. Chicot the Jester had the courage of his convictions; he was a man who dared. Knowing his friend De Bussy to be guiltless, he tore the court order into shreds and ordered De Bussy into retirement at the peaceful castle of Baron de Meridor, whose beautiful daughter, Diana Chicot, knew to be the adored one of De Bussy's heart. How De Bussy complied; how he was waylaid by the king's men within Diana's gates; how Diana nursed him secretly; how the uncouth Count de Monsoreau had the beauty kidnapped upon De Bussy's return to court; how De Monsoreau married her before Chicot, who had overheard the plot could interfere.
- Jean Valjean, a good man convicted of a minor crime, escapes from imprisonment and spends the rest of his life running from the vindictive and implacable man of the law, Javert.
- Vamp propositions a reform candidate for governor.
- A reminiscence of her act ten years ago, recalling how she had secretly married Jean Roussel, flashes through the mind of Mathilda, daughter of Professor Stangerson, when her father asks her to become the wife of Robert Darzac, and how their wedding certificate could not be filed as her husband was imprisoned for passing counterfeit money. But she soon dismisses the horror upon the thought that Roussel must have been dead (she never having heard from or of him) and at last consents to the announcement of her betrothal to Darzac. Roussel, however, was still alive and soon learns of the engagement of Mathilda. By a subterfuge he manages to get a note to her telling her that he still loves her and begging her to flee with him to America. Mathilda was too frightened to answer, so Roussel in a jealous rage goes to the residence of Mathilda and hides in the yellow room occupied by her. Mathilda, who had been out walking with her father and fiancé, returned and feeling tired goes direct to her room, where she comes face to face with Roussel, who cautions her not to utter a word of alarm. But Mathilda was very much afraid and screams. In order to stop her, Roussel chokes her into unconsciousness and leaves her for dead. That evening as she joins her father he notices that she is unusually pale and advises her to retire early. She does and no sooner had the household retired when a shot comes from the room of Mathilda. Upon investigation the father finds that his daughter is lying unconscious upon the floor with a deep gash in her head, but no trace of her assailant could be found for the doors and windows were all locked from the inside. Professor Stangerson places the solving of the mystery in the hands of Rouletabille, a noted detective, and inspector Larson, They are given adjoining rooms in the Stangerson castle, and in his work of unraveling the enigma, Rouletabille finds under the bed of Mathilda a hair and a bloody handkerchief. Then Mathilda receives another letter from Roussel, which makes her change her room. At midnight the detective hears sounds coming from the yellow room, and stations Larson and the professor at both ends of the gallery, but no one is found. Previously the detective had caught a glimpse of a bearded man and has come to the conclusion that he must be in the house. He is also surprised to learn that Larson's hair is the color of that which he had found in Mathilda's boudoir. Larson, who was none other than Roussel, sends Mathilda another note and fearing the surveillance of Rouletabille, he invites the detective to supper in his room. He drugs the wine which is drunk by the detective, and as the latter is examining Larson's hair he notices a bad wound in the inspector's hand and then falls unconscious. Rouletabille's assistant brings him around, and after forcing from Larson the marriage certificate deliberately gives him a chance to escape. Then the detective gives Mathilda the unrecorded marriage document, the destruction of which means her freedom to marry Darzac. The mystery of the yellow room was cleared by the detective's remarkable deduction which shows that the deep gash in the head of Mathilda had been caused by a vision of her assailant and she, in a subconscious state, had discharged the revolver in self-defense and in falling had landed against a table, and the ugly wound in Larson's hand had been done when she had her encounter with him in the yellow room.
- Fernande, the daughter of poor parents, is very much dissatisfied with her lot in life and wants to get out where she can have some pleasure. She is a great flirt and has several men on the string. When the doctor comes to the house she works her wiles on him to such an extent that he asks for her hand in marriage. She accepts him but in her mind has no intention of giving up her other sweethearts. After her marriage she continues to meet them with the result that he discovers her unfaithfulness. He looks in her private correspondence and finds proof that she has been utterly unfaithful. When he taxes her with it she does not deny it but tells him that she intends to continue the same way. He in a rage strikes her. Driven nearly insane he wanders round all night and on his return finds that she has gone away. He loses all trace of her and goes to a foreign country to try to forget her. In the meantime she goes to Paris, where she sets up a little court of her own. Her admirers are many, among them Count Adolphe. He is so much taken with her charms that he decides to marry her. He writes to his grandfather telling him of his decision. Then he goes to Fernande with his proposal. She is rather taken aback as she had not intended to let him get that far in the toils. To avoid his attentions she goes to a small town in Brittany where she finds life too slow for her temperament. Being one of that kind of women who must have an admirer she flirts with a young fisherman. The fisherman, Pierre, is however built of different stuff than the men she has met in Paris and will not be satisfied to merely admire her from a distance. In spite of his rough manners, or probably because of them and his immense size, he exerts a charm on Fernande that makes her lose her cool, calculating manner. She allows him to come to her home. Pierre's mother has suspected for some time that all is not well with him and follows to learn what is the cause of his desertion of his own wife. Through the good offices of an old friend she learns that Pierre is spending nearly all of his time at the home of Fernande. Going to the doctor she asks him to do what he can to get Pierre out of the clutches of the woman who is wrecking both their lives. The doctor goes to the villa and on entering finds that not only has Fernande been playing with Pierre, but that she has at the house Count Adolphe, who has followed her from Paris. He also is astounded to find the woman in the case is Fernande, his own wife who had left his house the night he had struck her. He had no idea that he had located in the same town that she had chosen for her home. He upbraids her but is met with a penitent air and an exhibition of those same charms that made him love her so long before. He falls a victim a second time only to be laughed at and told that he is an old fool. Enraged he tells Pierre and the count who she really is. Pierre, overcome, falls in a faint striking his head and badly hurting himself. He is taken home and orders are given that he is to be kept absolutely quiet if he is to recover. Fernande decides to see him and goes to his home. She is told that it is impossible to see him, but insists. Then Pierre's mother takes a hand and the Siren meets one on whom she cannot work her charms. She is forced to admit defeat and a career of wanton despoliation ends.
- The daughter of an adventurer in India is kidnapped by a native king, whom she is forced to marry. She has several adventures battling natives and wild animals.
- Jean Valjean, guilty of a minor theft of food, is pursued and hounded for years by a relentless lawman, Javert.
- A Portland escapee joins a countess's coining gang and is caught by a detective and a flower girl.
- A gentle orphan discovers life and love in an indifferent adult world.
- The best teacher is often life's experiences. The story of the man behind TheBook.co.za.
- A successful stage actress with a hidden past as a criminal is kept on the path of righteousness by a benefactor.
- The gift of seeing into the hearts of others is given to a young artist by Brandis. He now looks at the people he comes into contact with and realizes they are not what they appear.