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- Drama with poor blind Marta who falls in love with sculptor Paul who prefers the high life. As she tries to bring him to the straight and narrow, he lets her down again which results in her taking both their lives.
- Nan Perrine, a shop girl in the S. and X. Department Store, of which Irwin is the manager, is unjustly accused of stealing a ring which has been placed in the pocket of her coat by Jenny, another employee of the store. Kirby is the prosecuting attorney of the town and his wife, Violet, is in love with Irwin. Nan declares her innocence. Kirby, who was a friend of Nan's father, thinks she is innocent, but Irwin insists that she is guilty. Kirby agrees to take her as maid for his wife and hold up the indictment for a time. Violet is having a flirtation with Barrett when Nan is taken into the house. Kirby gets a letter warning him of his wife's flirtations. At a party in the evening Nan sees Barrett and Violet go to the piazza and Kirby discovers them. He expostulates with her, and when she answers indignantly he shows her the letter he has received. Nan, after they disappear, finds that she is standing on the note which Kirby has dropped and reads the line, "A scandal would ruin him." Barrett and Violet later meet on the rocks at the shore with Nan and Kirby both watching, unseen by each other, and they go separate ways after Barrett and Violet disappear. At night Kirby 'phones his wife that he will be at the court late and she 'phones to Barrett, who is out when she rings up, and Nan is surprised to see Irwin calling. While he is there Barrett calls up. Irwin demands to know who is calling. She refuses to tell; they struggle for the 'phone; she strikes Irwin with it and kills him. A burglar breaking into the house sees the affair but is unseen. Nan and Violet start to take the body out to the road, but Kirby drives up in his car. Violet, trapped, tells him that Nan has killed Irwin. Nan pleads with him not to have her arrested, and when his back is toward her. escapes through a window. Kirby and his wife have an affectionate scene, while the burglar follows Nan. Nan on the rocks writes a letter indicating suicide, with the burglar watching. Removing the body, detectives find Irwin's note to Violet. The burglar reads Nan's note, catches her and tries to make her agree to Join his gang. Violet tries to bluff Kirby about any connection between the note and the murder. He threatens arrest; she admits that she killed Irwin and he reproaches her with allowing an innocent girl to be charged with the crime. Detectives come back with Nan's coat and note and Kirby orders the search stopped as Nan is innocent. Detectives learn that it was his wife and tell him that the girl has faked a suicide; that no one will suspect his wife, and they let matters rest until morning. Then Violet packs up her jewels to go to Barrett. Nan is taken to a tough dance. Barrett is there and Nan appeals to him to save her. Barrett is attacked and the whole crowd fights. Barrett and Nan escape, aided by a dancing girl. He takes her to his looms. Violet goes to Barrett's room and is shocked to see him come in with Nan. She faints. Kirby at home finds Violet away. Nan tells Barrett they must get Violet home. Nan will take her there. As they get there in a cab, Kirby comes out and sees the driver carrying the body with Nan beside him; he slips back into the house and opens the door when Nan rings. She tells him the story. Doctors declare Violet died from heart failure. Kirby tells Nan this is the second time that night she has sacrificed herself to save him and he knows now that she did not commit the first crime, the theft.
- Peggy, a rambunctious young American girl, goes to Scotland to visit her uncle. Her American ways both shock and eventually delight the people of the old village--especially the handsome young minister.
- The locale of the play is among the redwoods of California. The Nymph has grown up under the care of a mother who has forsaken civilization to live in a log house in the timber. There is a stalwart Amazon-like servant, who guards the girl jealously. The Nymph has known nothing of men's society. She is taught the ancient stories of the Greek divinities and plays hymns to these personages on her harp. But the restless girl is not content to stay at home. She runs and dances through the forest, her head filled with the wonderful stories that she has read. She gives the trees the names of the gods. One day she clasps her arms around a tree and calls on the divinity that inhabits it to appear. As the tree remains stolid to her impassioned cries, she clasps her hands and calls again for Apollo. A young hunter, who happens to have come on the scent, steps forward. The girl can hardly reconcile his hunting clothes and high boots with the picture of the half-draped Greek god. He wins her interest, however. There is a thrilling fire scene afterwards and the girl is rescued from danger and restored to her adorer.
- Rich artist David King sends his infant daughter Molly to an orphanage, then years later regrets it and tries to find her. She's sent to slave at a boarding house,and the mistress of the orphanage passes her niece off as Molly.
- The first feature-length Turkish movie centers upon a story of an old man who is forced to marry with a young lady. The story depends on the Moliere's The Forced Marriage which was translated into Turkish by Ahmet Vefik Pasha.
- Episode 1: "Helen's Race with Death" Helen Holmes, age three, accompanies her father, General Holmes, president of the C.W.R.R., to the beach depot each morning as he departs for his office. The nurse takes her to the park, and while her erstwhile guardian chats with the family chauffeur Helen forms a chance acquaintance with a stray dog. The pup, unused to affection, runs away and Helen goes in pursuit. Nearby is a miniature railroad and Storm, an orphan newsboy, seeking to learn the mysteries of the small engine, has struck up an acquaintance with the engineer. Storm is ambitious; he has dreams of operating a real locomotive when he grows up. The miniature train pulls out with its load of passengers. The pup, with Helen in close pursuit, runs in front of the train. Throwing aside his newspapers, Storm dashes forward, and seizing Helen, throws her out of harm's way. Helen likes her rescuer and he tells her of his great ambition to run a big locomotive just like his father before an accident ended his life. Meantime the nurse and chauffeur gather Helen up and she waves a farewell to her new-found friend. The years roll by. Helen, raised in luxury, has developed into a beautiful young girl, in whom is centered all her father's affections. She receives a message from her father, telling her to meet him on No. 19, and that he is bringing home his nephew and a friend of the latter's. After years of disappointments and hard work, Storm has become a fireman on the road presided over by General Holmes. On this day he pulls out on No. 245 over the Black Rock Pass. Half way over the grade the air pump on his engine breaks. The long train is brought to a stop. Connecting up an emergency telephone, the conductor, talking to the dispatches receives orders to "bring on train by hand brakes." With the crew on decks, No. 245 is again in motion. Passing the summit, the crew realizes it can no longer control the long drag of cars, for the freight's speed has put it on the schedule of No. 19, the passenger aboard of which is General Holmes. The crew decides to cut off the caboose and escape, but Storm doggedly insists on sticking to the engine. Writing a message on a white signal flag and wrapping it around a wrench, the conductor hurls it through the window of the first telegraph office they pass. The operator wires news of the runaway to the next station, but it is too late; No. 19 has left. This put the passenger in the path of the runaway. Helen learns of the danger from the operator, where she is waiting. She rushes out and mounts her pony and rides for the bridge, but reaches it just as it is raised to permit the passage of a battleship. Digging her spurs into her mount, she makes a wild attempt to reach it, but fails. Into the river go horse and rider. As she rises to the surface Helen strikes out for the opposite shore. The two trains are drawing closer together. Arrived on shore, Helen mounts her pony and resumes her race with death. Down the track she gallops to a switch, the lock of which she breaks with a stone. Seizing the lever, she throws the switch as the head end of the freight thunders into the passing track. The hind end just clears the switch as the passenger tears by. At the far end of the passing track three box cars are standing. As Storm, still at his post, see the impending collision he jumps to safety. Helen rushes forward and picks up the gallant fireman. She has repaid her debt to her newsboy hero.
- The story opens at a chateau where gay French life is depicted, introducing Raimond de Mornay, the elder of two sons who secretly loves his cousin Claire. He makes no open declaration of his affection, though, and his brother Louis woos and wins her. Unable to stand the jealousy their marriage arouses, Raimond goes to Vienna, where he engages in riotous living. His father's death calls him home, but he is unable to watch the intimacy of the woman he loves with his brother, and he leaves for India where he stays for several years, becoming versed in the ways of the Hindu. A letter from his nephew Paul asks him to come back. Believing he has stifled the jealousy that sent him away, he returns. The green-eyed monster attacks him with irresistible force and calling into play a curious box, that somewhere in its mechanism contains a drop of cobra poison, he gives it to his brother whose inquisitiveness over its mysterious nature releases a hidden spring and the virus is injected into his blood. He secretes the body in a casket, another of his possessions obtained in India. The casket guards his secret until Claire becomes suspicious and accuses him of the deed. His mind, brooding over his crime, becomes deranged and although pleading innocence, leads Claire to the casket and throws open the lid. The shock of unexpectedly seeing her dead husband kills her. Again Raimond escapes suspicion, but as time elapses he forms a dislike for his nephew, until, becoming obsessed with the idea of showing Paul what is inside of the chest, he drags the frightened child to the heavy box and shows him all that is left of what was once his father. Later, after becoming a raving maniac. Raimond falls dead at the sight of his brother's skeleton.
- There's a tradition in a certain section of England that the unwed eldest daughter in a family must wear green stockings when a younger sister gets married. Celia Faraday is forced to do that once, but when her younger sister Phyllis announces she will marry Robert Tarver, Celia refuses to go through that humiliation again and invents a fiance for herself, "Colonel Smith". To make it seem more real, she writes letters to her "fiance", but never mails them. One day one of the letters accidentally gets mailed, and is received by a real Colonel Smith, who decides to check out who his "fiance" really is.
- Helen Steele, who has theatrical aspirations, has been told by Sidney Parker that, owing to her lack of stage experience he cannot entertain her proposition of giving her the leading part in his new production, "The Siren." Believing that she can get Parker to consent if she is persuasive enough, Helen has her fiancé, Henry Tracey, invite the theatrical manager to the party to be given by John W. Cannell so that she may work upon him. At the affair Helen manages to obtain Parker's consent to give her a trial it she is successful in having Jack Craigen, a friend of Cannell, who has been living in Patagonia for a long time and who is a woman hater, propose to her. Helen works her wiles upon the adamant Craigen and finally elicits a proposal from him. The guests in the next room, who have been listening, come out at the critical moment, and congratulate her. Craigen demands an explanation, and he is told that it is all a joke. He refuses to accept the incident in such a light, however, and makes preparations to leave for his home in the mountains. At this juncture. Tracey, who had been called out of town on important business before the commencement of the party, returns. When told of Helen's episode with Craigen he becomes very angry and upbraids her. Tracey then goes in search of Craigen, whom he does not know, and mistaking Keen Fitzpatrick, a reporter, who has been waiting in the next room for an interview with Craigen on Patagonia, for the man he is in search of, he starts to pour a scathing indictment upon him. The guests hear the tirade and inform Tracey of the identity of the man to whom he is speaking. Meanwhile Craigen, having packed his belongings, is leaving in his auto. As he is passing the back entrance, Helen jumps in front of his auto and tells him that, inasmuch as he does not know anything about women he should adopt the Patagonian savage method and carry her off to his home where he could study her. He puts her suggestion into effect and Helen is carried off in the auto to his home in the woods, where he brutally orders her about. She attempts to escape, and Craigen chains her to the floor. While he leaves her for a moment to put his car into the garage, "Boney," an escaped lunatic, makes his way into the cabin. He styles himself Napoleon Bonaparte, and raves about his armies. As he is swinging his sword about the room, Craigen appears, and by diplomacy succeeds in getting "Boney" upstairs to review his armies where he is locked in a room. Craigen returns to Helen. His back is turned to her and she knocks him unconscious with the telephone. Taking the keys from his pocket, she releases herself and escapes into the woods. Craigen recovers his senses and, finding the note Helen left informing him that she feels sorry for her action and has gone for help, fears for her safety, and goes out in search of her. During his absence Fitzpatrick, who was trailing, arrives. On searching through the house for Craigen, he comes upon "Boney," whom he takes to be the man he is searching for. He demands to know where the girl is, but "Boney" only raves about his armies. The two are just on the point of clashing when Craigen returns. He reveals his identity to the reporter, and tells him that Helen has fled into the woods. The asylum keepers trace "Boney" to Craigen's home, and take him away. Tracey, who has also been following, arrives at the cabin and confronts Craigen with a revolver. He demands Helen or his life. Craigen manages to convince Tracey, after an argument, that Helen has fled into the woods. Helen has seen Tracey's car going in the direction of Craigen's home, and fearing trouble, makes her way back. She arrives just after Tracey has left. The other members of the house party arrive to take Helen back, but she refuses to leave Craigen.
- Jack Langdon is sent by a San Francisco company to manage its Santa Clara mine in Peru. Gov. Juan Maria Barada, who disputes the American claim to the mine, means to gain possession of it through intimidation. Barada has his henchman, Miguel Alba, try to bribe and then attempt to kill Langdon, who plans to inform his superiors about the plot. Langdon returns to San Francisco, and after six weeks in delirium in the hospital because of Alba's attack, recovers. He then is told that his aunt has died, leaving him the heir to a woman's seminary in Massachussetts, containing 250 female students. Langdon goes to the seminary, and after the commencement exercises, although he thinks that he is alone at the college except for the caretakers, he comes upon Pepita, Barada's daughter, who is a student at the seminary. She escaped from the clutches of the evil Alba and his mistress, Señorita Del Deros, who had tried to kidnap her from the college. Alba returns for Pepita but he is overcome by Langdon who then telephones Barada and informs him that his daughter is safe. In gratitude, Barada promises that Langdon's new tenure in Peru will be trouble free, and that Alba will be silenced permanently.
- Persis Cabot, daughter of a multi-millionaire meets a young officer, Harvey Forbes, coming from the Philippines and they fall in love. Owing to her father's financial reverses, it is impossible for her to marry Harvey Forbes. She contracts a marriage with Willie Enslee, whose immense fortune makes it possible for her to reinstate her father and give her all the luxuries she has been used to. The marriage is a failure. Persis meets Forbes at a reception given by the Ambassador and they both confess their love to each other. Persis discovers a liaison of her husband with a former mistress and decides that she has a right to take the love which Forbes offers her. On the first occasion of their being alone together, Willie Enslee discovers them and accuses Persis of infidelity. Forbes commands her to choose between them. Persis refuses, and Forbes leaves her in desperation. Left alone together Willie, maddened by jealousy, stabs his wife. A newspaper reporter visits the house and gains information which leads him to believe that Forbes is implicated in the attempted murder. He also visits Forbes and informs him of the fact that Persis has been stabbed by her husband. Forbes hurries back to the Enslee home and tells Persis that he will take her with him, even though she is not willing to go, as they are mated to each other. After the necessary divorce proceedings have been obtained, Persis marries Harvey Forbes.
- A melodrama about a dead brothers wish for atonement regarding a child he never recognized as his. Gerd, is now 18, adopted by a shoemaker, is surprised by the message that she actually belongs to a wealthy family who now wants to take care of her.
- Messalla, the embodiment of youth and innocence, lives in an old house in Washington Square, New York City, with her father, who has been ruined financially and lost his wife through the lure of Fifth Avenue. He tells Messalla that the thoroughfare is a dragon lying in wait for victims. Messalla starts out to find the dragon and goes up the avenue. Her meetings with various people bring destruction and death to those who had wrought her father's ruin, although she is unconscious of the effect she is having on their lives. Messalla escapes the wiles of the white slaver. She allows a discarded flame of a big merchant to take her place at dinner to which she has been invited, and the merchant suffers at the hands of the discarded woman. A policeman's attention is attracted to Messalla and a man is killed by an automobile while he is looking at her. At a lacemaker's shop a wealthy young woman is tempted to take a bit of lace because Messalla has admired it, but she is caught and jailed. There is a robbery affecting some papers which have been taken and replaced by a bomb, and Messalla gives the package to a woman who turns out to be her father's lost wife; the house is destroyed after the woman and Messalla leave. There is a reconciliation. All those injured were people who had injured her father, and the dragon has been slain by Messalla's youth and innocence.
- A clerk in the British Civil Service stationed in India, Gilbert Raynor sends for his wife Emily after a long period of diligent saving. Shortly after her arrival, Emily becomes ill, and Raynor requests a transfer to a gentler climate. Marner, Raynor's superior, refuses the request until he meets Emily and falls in love with her, after which he moves Raynor to a high-paying but dangerous post. Inevitably, Raynor contracts the fever which is endemic to the district where he is stationed. Marner, who follows Emily to the mountain area where she goes to recover, learns of Raynor's illness but does not transfer him. Finally, after Emily, who has backed off Marner's advances, learns of her husband's plight, Marner has an attack of conscience and journeys with Emily to rescue Raynor in the nick of time. Remaining in the fever zone, Marner reads the story of David and Uriah in Raynor's Bible, recognizes the parallel to his own wrongdoing, and dies from fever, while husband and wife are restored to happiness.
- David Garrick, a man from the city, disinherited by his father, wanders to a small town where he meets Mary Carroll, a simple little country girl. Mary holds clandestine meetings with Garrick, until surprised by her parents, who insist that her company see her at her home. Garrick has betrayed Mary and in answer to her pleadings as to when they will be married he sets the time for 3 o'clock of a nearby day. Great preparations are made at the humble little home while Garrick struggles with himself undecided whether to keep his promise. As he debates a letter comes advising of his father's death, and that he has been left the sole heir. Immediately his mind reverts to his old sweetheart, Katherine, a social favorite, and he decides to break his promise to Mary. He goes and leaves no trace of his whereabouts. At the Carroll home, Grace, Mary's older sister, who is studying voice culture in the city, arrives for the wedding. The hour of 3 o'clock arrives and patiently the little family waits. At 3 :15 Mary's father goes to summon Garrick. Upon his return he tells of Garrick's flight. Mary, holding in her heart the secret of her betrayal, is affected suddenly with a peculiar form of mental derangement. Grace sees a picture of Garrick and vows that she will avenge her wronged sister. As time rolls on each day at 3 o'clock, arrayed in her simple wedding gown, Mary sits and waits and waits for him who seemingly will never come. Grace, back in the city, becomes a popular favorite known as Madame Mimi. During one of her recitals Garrick is among the audience. His sweetheart of the former days became tired of waiting for him and married, and he became a man about town. He is introduced to Madame Mimi, who immediately recognizes the betrayer of her sister. Their meetings become frequent. Soon Garrick confesses his love for her and she, in reply to his proposal, replies, "Yes, tomorrow at 3 at my apartments we will wed." He is somewhat startled but she retaining her composure, questions him for his actions. Mary and Mrs. Carroll are called by wire, and plans are laid for the wedding the next afternoon.
- "Al" Spencer, a gambler not averse to cheating, occupying an apartment with his wife and infant daughter, deserts his family after attacking and robbing a card-player a confederate had brought to his place. Living in the same building is Nancy Springer, a shoplifter whose thief husband is in jail awaiting trial. His attorney, anxious to create sympathy for his client, urges Nancy to borrow an infant and appear with it in court during her husband's trial. Mrs. Spencer innocently lends her baby; the ruse works, and Springer is acquitted. Nancy, going to return the baby to its mother, finds the woman dead, so she and her husband informally adopt the child, naming it Nell. Fifteen years elapse. Spencer, former gambler, now known as Albert Sprague, is prosperous in business and apparently reformed. He marries a wealthy widow with a young son. They reside on Long Island on a very pretentious estate. The Springers, attracted by Mrs. Sprague's display of gems and jewelry, plot to rob the Sprague residence. Leasing an adjoining estate, they soon are on friendly terms with their intended victims. Nell, now a clever thief, is purposely seized with illness while visiting at Sprague's and cannot be removed for several days, during which time it is planned that she shall steal the Sprague diamonds, pearls and jewelry. She falls in love with young Sprague, confesses to him that she is a thief. Her adopted parents learning of this, and knowing the police will investigate, boldly rob the Sprague residence. While doing this, Springer kills young Sprague and his mother dies of shock. The adopted daughter Nell is locked up, tried, and found guilty of complicity in the murder. A thief turns state's evidence, the Springers are caught, and through her statements Sprague learns that Nell is his own daughter whom he deserted when she was an infant. He works for her release, finally accomplishes it, then discloses to her his identity, but she spurns him. Eventually they are united.
- John Montgomery, young, rich and of fine family, is eagerly sought after by the elite of old San Francisco. He and Ellie Fenwick meet for a moment at a hall, and are mutually attracted. Montgomery's impulsiveness and generosity cause him to fall an easy prey to Willie Felton, leader of a fast set, who introduces the young man to Martin Rood's gambling house. Rood, seeing in Montgomery a lamb to be shorn, quickly fleeces him of a large part of his fortune and then persuades him to invest the rest in a bogus mining deal. The young San Franciscan finds himself penniless. Meanwhile, he has met Carlotta Valencia, mistress of Rood, who develops for Montgomery the first real affection she has ever felt for any man. He is infatuated with her beauty and cleverness, and when he begins to hear evil stories against her, he stoutly defends this Spanish woman of doubtful arts. Montgomery's own reputation is sullied because of his associates, and only Ellie Fenwick continues to have faith in his inherent nobility. She believes Montgomery more sinned against than sinning. Her father, however, will not permit her to have anything to do with the man she loves. Montgomery, denied the companionship of the one woman who might have redeemed him, turns for consolation to Carlotta. One morning early, Ellie is returning from the market to prepare a birthday breakfast for her father. Passing Rood's gambling house, she hears a pistol shot. Through the swinging doors of the bar-room, the proprietor of the resort falls out dead. Montgomery, with a smoking revolver in his hand, leaps out after him, and the next instant, flinging away the weapon, has fled. Ellie, panic-stricken, hurries home, where she tells her father and District Attorney Dingley what she has seen. Nobody else has witnessed the incident, and Ellie, violently against her own will, is obliged to serve as chief witness for the state. Carlotta lures the girl to her house and tries to bribe her into silence. When this fails, she attempts to induce her to drink a cup of poisoned wine. Ellie, however, is on her guard. Her father has made her feel that it is her duty to God and to society to testify against the man she loves. Montgomery is convicted of the murder. As he is leaving the courthouse a band of Mexican horsemen, hirelings of Carlotta, enact his rescue. He and the Spanish woman plot to flee the country together. A chance meeting with Ellie, however, causes Montgomery to resolve to leave the city alone and start life over again. He writes Carlotta his intention. Ellie is driving him in her carriage to the borders of the town when both are arrested by the sheriff's posse. The girl flees, taking refuge in Carlotta's house. She finds the beautiful Spaniard sitting erect in a chair, dead. A written confession in her own hand reveals that it was she who murdered Rood. Later, Perez, Carlotta's servant, corroborates the story, throwing light on Montgomery's heroism in shielding the guilty woman. Montgomery is exonerated. He begins life anew, with Ellie as his wife.
- Rev. Dr. Penfield Sturgis, of fashionable St. Martins-in-the-Lane, finds himself face to face with Jane Bartlett, a grand opera prima donna whose opera he has denounced on grounds of morality, and who comes to his very vestry room to make him "eat his sermon word for word." Out of the encounter a strange acquaintance develops, Jane Bartlett interested through vindictive reasons, the rector through the challenge to his church. She prevails upon him to visit the notorious opera, which but deepens his previous convictions, but meanwhile he discovers a surprising humanity in the woman herself. Just as it is beginning to dawn upon him that maybe he takes himself a shade too seriously, word comes that the Mayor has closed "Zaporah" on the strength of his own condemnatory sermon. Repentant, Sturgis decides to apologize in an open letter to the newspapers, at which his vestry and congregation, already perturbed by the ascendancy of the Bartlett woman, are up in arms. To preserve her dignity the young rector offers to marry her, and she accepts him, thus at last making him "eat his sermon word for word," as she had set out to do. But her vanity appeased, Jane Bartlett proceeds to make peace between her young rector and Georgine Darigal, daughter of the rector emeritus and formerly his fiancée, and the reconciliation assured, Jane Bartlett gracefully withdraws.
- The story tells of the adventures of an unusual young duke, whose father, the old Grand Duke of Kiev, coveted the wife of Count Dardinilis, his colonel of Huzzars; of the old Grand Duke's plot to get her for himself; of her accidental death at the hands of his Cossacks, and of the colonel's escape with his little daughter to America. The young Grand Duke, now an orphan, comes to America to complete his education. The Nihilists send Perelley to kill him, but he is apprehended by the Secret Service, who know the details of the plot. They dress the man in the Grand Duke's clothes and chain him to a carriage, and thus he rides as the nobleman. The Grand Duke, closely resembling Perelley, comes upon their rendezvous and goaded on by the nihilists, throws a box of bonbons at his double, unwillingly riding in the carriage. To make sure of their capture at the opportune time, the Grand Duke goes with them into the country. Perelley escapes from the carriage, and his presence at the rendezvous makes it very necessary that the Grand Duke explain. He escapes, unharmed, with the aid of Dardinilis' daughter. When they are captured by the police the very lenient young Duke calls it a draw and lets it go. Count Dardinilis becomes colonel of the Black Huzzars and his daughter becomes the Duchess of Kiev.
- The story, in brief, tells of Baron Chevrial, whose whole interest in life centers in women and his one big hobby, the censoring of female loveliness. He is smitten with the charms of Rosa, the incomparable dancer of the Opera Comique. He pays homage to her beauty by establishing her in the most luxurious quarters and lavishing upon her the major part of his income. Rosa toys with the Baron, even curtailing his liberty, which extends only so far as her whim or caprice will permit. The Baron, however, true to his nature, finds that Rosa does not entirely fill his craving for feminine companionship and seeks new fields to conquer. Therese Beauchamp, a beautiful girl, prominent in society, meets with his approval and he marries her, but keeps up his interest in Rosa, making no effort to conceal his relations with the ballet dancer from his wife. And then a new woman enters his life and for a time he is oblivious to everything else until visions of his former ballet girl charmer arise and he returns to Rosa. He decides to give a party in honor of her birthday and their reunion, and throws open the magnificent Chevrial banquet hall for the occasion, Rosa and ballet girls, still in costume, being brought from the opera house in motor cars. During the progress of the dinner the Baron rises to propose a toast to Rosa, when he is stricken with apoplexy and drops dead.
- Katie Standish is the family drudge on a New England farm. Her elder sister "enjoys" poor health and her mother sees to it that Katie not only does her own work but that of the weak or lazy Priscilla. Oliver Putnam, a husky young farmer lad, comes courting Katie, but her parents interfere so much that he is discouraged. Oliver finally goes to Mexico with Ben Standish, uncle of Katie and Priscilla, who owns a valuable mine there. Priscilla marries Caleb Adams, a young man who bought a farm adjoining that of Standish. Father and Mother Standish die and Katie goes to live with her sister. Soon she is doing all the housework, and as Priscilla rapidly becomes the mother of seven, each and every one of them is turned over to Katie's care. Then Priscilla and her husband are killed by an express train while driving to the city. Then Katie must teach school to help keep the wolf from the door. She writes to her uncle, telling of her sister's death and how the care of the children had fallen to her. The uncle invites her to bring the motherless brood with her and they can all make their home with him in Mexico. Oliver Putnam is expecting Katie, but the information about the children has been withheld from him. He is overjoyed when he sees Katie step off the train, but is flabbergasted when he sees the many children--only the first time the children get between Oliver and Katie, and Oliver comes to resent them. He sees two of them fussing and spanks one of them; Katie catches this and gives him a scathing rebuke. Then she happens to hear him tell Dan that he hates children; this lands him squarely in her bad graces. Uncle Ben likes the youngsters. He shows them how a series of guns in their little home could be discharged at once by pulling a lever and how a mine around the house could be discharged in a similar manner. He is careful to lock the room where the weapons of destruction are placed, but one of the children finds out where he has hidden the key. While Katie and Oliver are away on an errand of mercy, Mexicans attack the little house. The children are all there but one. The missing one happens to be outside and escapes to the road, where he is saved by a cowboy who goes after help. Meanwhile the children defend themselves by discharging the guns and firing the mines as their uncle had shown them. Katie and Oliver have a desperate fight when they are attacked by another band of Mexicans, but hold them off in a deserted cabin, till the cowboys rescue them. Oliver can't help admiring the brave way in which the children have defended the house, and is grateful also for the fact that the silver under the floor has been saved from the Mexicans. So Oliver and Katie forget their differences and make a home for the children in a mansion in the United States.
- David Waltham is the head of a syndicate, which corners the food supply. His wife hears of her husband's operation and begs him to consider the poor, who will be unable to pay the prices that his monopoly will exact. He is merciless, however. Among those who suffer from Waltham's efforts is an engineer named John Adams. The bank in which his small funds are deposited undergoes a "run" and he loses all his money. He has previously lost his job. The Adams family is reduced to starvation and finally Adams in desperation breaks a window in a bakery and gets away with an armful of bread. He is arrested and is sent up to the workhouse for thirty days. The rent collector comes around, but Mrs. Adams is unable to pay him anything though she slaves over the washboard and her two children assist her. Seeing that the woman is beautiful, the collector gives her some money, telling her to buy her children and herself a square meal. She reluctantly accepts his gift. Little by little she descends until she even appears in a low dance hall with the man. John Adams returns from jail and goes to his humble rooms. There he finds his children in bed. Finally his wife appears in beautiful and expensive clothes. She appears disgusted with the life she leads and wipes the paint off her lips with loathing. Then she suddenly sees her husband, who is staring at her as if in a trance. She is almost hysterical from fright. He grasps her wrists roughly and demands an explanation. She tells him that she has done it for the children's sake. This plea saves her life, but the soul of John Adams is filled with bitterness. Widespread suffering and destitution prevail and bread lines are everywhere in the poorer quarters of the great city. Men and women practice deception to get a little more bread and some get into fights overcome by their own and their children's sufferings. Three desperate men invade the sanctum of David Waltham, but are quelled by his masterful manner and slink away impotently when he tells them that he will call the police if they are not gone in a minute. John Adams gets a job in Waltham's big storage house. A fellow worker points out Waltham to Adams and the latter's rage against the big monopolist is aroused to a high pitch of fury as he thinks of his wife's degradation. Adams blames it all on Waltham. That night he secrets himself in the big warehouse and telephones to Waltham saying that the police are down there, having heard of a secret plan on the part of some of the starving populace to destroy the place. He tells Waltham to leave his auto a block or two away from the building, when he comes, to avoid suspicion. Adams gets Waltham in the building and securely ties him and then leaves him to starve. That he may not be found, Adams surrounds the magnate with a big pile of boxes. In his struggles to free himself, Waltham upsets the towering piles of boxes and they topple over completely burying him.
- Amina loves Rudolph and turns the powerful Count Wolfenstein down when he proposes to her. In a jealous rage, Wolfenstein throws Rudolph into a dungeon. Meanwhile, Hertzog, "The Black Crook," has a deal with the devil: he must hand over to Satan one soul each year or find himself banished to Hell. With only 24 hours left before the year ends, Hertzog focuses all of his attention on Amina and Rudolph, believing them to be weakened from despair and therefore easy prey.
- Francis Burnham, a young American naval officer in the time of King Louis XVI of France, escapes from a British convict ship. He is desirous of reaching Paris to see Benjamin Franklin, then his country's Minister, but upon his arrival there learns Franklin is away. He meets Bucknall, an old shipmate, and earns his everlasting gratitude by helping him out of financial difficulties. Later, strolling through the suburbs of Paris, he has the good fortune to rescue a beautiful lady from a highwayman, but does not learn her name. Meanwhile his restless nature gets him into gambling, he loses all and becomes indebted to a stranger who proves to be the Marquis de Tremignon. By threats and promises to wipe out his obligations, the Marquis secures Burnham's aid in the scheme he has in mind. He tells the young American that he is in love with the Countess De Villars. and she with him but her grandfather objects, so the Marquis plans to force his consent by securing some article of wearing apparel from the Countess and thus compromise her. Burnham is to be his agent. He does not think very highly of the job, but when the Marquis threatens him with imprisonment, he consents. That night he enters the Countess' apartments and succeeds in securing one of her slippers but is confronted a moment later by the lady herself. She proves to be the lady he rescued from the highwayman. Crushed and humiliated, Burnham tells his story and she believes him. He learns that she hates the Marquis and that the rascal is really trying to force her into a marriage in this cowardly fashion. Before she goes she gives him her slipper to take to the Marquis, but instead he keeps it and denounces that gentleman to his face for which he is imprisoned. The slipper Burnham entrusts to Bucknell for safe keeping, and the old seaman takes it to the Countess, telling her what has transpired. She helps Burnham to escape from prison, but he is captured by the Marquis's soldiers before he can reach the border. The Countess's influence, however, secures an audience with Queen Marie Antoinette, as a result of which the Marquis is humiliated while Burnham is freed, and marries the Countess.
- Mark Embury sets out to create the perfect wife by adopting Peggy. His work is a success until the girl falls in love with another man. Ultimately, he must give her up and become satisfied with knowing, he did create the perfect wife, albeit for someone else.
- Lulu is the daughter of an English bishop and she loves and is loved by Tom, nephew of the Duke of Bilgewater. Lulu and Tom finally decide to tell their folks that they have become engaged. They expect a little opposition, for their respective fathers and uncle are enemies, but bravely hope to overcome it and make things right. Lulu leaves Tom at her door and goes in and gladly announces that she is to marry the duke's nephew. A scene ensues and in the duke's castle a like scene is going on. The bishop insists that Lulu marry his curate, whom she despises, while the duke insists that Tom marry his cousin, Lady Mary, who has more brains than beauty. Tom refuses to marry his cousin and is ordered to leave the house. He and Lulu plan to elope. So they leave England to seek their fortune in America, confidently hoping to marry as soon as this is accomplished. Arrived in New York, Tom finds that the only thing he can get to do is peddling books. Meanwhile Lulu attracts the attention of an old chap into whose office she goes, and he at once engages her to be his typewriter. Tom puts up $70 for his books and starts out to sell them. But it seems that "The Lives of the Saints" are not popular that year, and so he meets with nothing but failure. He happens into the office where Lulu is at work and there finds her struggling in the embrace of the old man. He fights with the old man and this interference causes Lulu to be "fired." They are unable to pay their hotel bill, and stealing away they seek refuge in the park. In the morning they see an advertisement for a maid and butler, so, pretending they are married, they apply for the jobs and luckily get them. To their consternation they find that the man of the house is the same old fellow in whose office Lulu worked for a few hours. Tom, in his utter surprise, drops a whole tureen full of soup over his master. Lulu warns the old man that if he fires Tom she will tell his wife all. So he agrees to keep his mouth shut. That night Tom and Lulu are shown to the same room. This will not do, so Tom takes his belongings and camps out in the hall. Feeling a bit cold, he steals into what he supposes to be an empty room, only to find it occupied by the cook. She chases him downstairs, where he has a bout with a burglar, who disappears leaving Tom with the bag of loot in his hands. The master and mistress come down. Tom and Lulu are taken for thieves and sent to the police station. Next morning, however, the old man is afraid to prosecute, so they are set free. This time in their search for work they are less fortunate. The only thing they can get is a very menial job called help's help in a large hotel. Here they wait upon the cooks and waiters and are treated with much disdain by their fellow servants. Tom is soon fired, but Lulu keeps the job. In the park Tom is accused of stealing a purse from a fiery old man to whom he was about to restore his property. The old man jails Tom. An old friend of Tom's comes to the hotel and visits the fiery old chap who jailed him. Lulu, who has been forced to don the attire of a bellboy to escape the attentions of a French cook, happens to be sent to their room with some drinks and hears them discussing Tom. Then she hears Tom's friend say that the Duke of Bilgewater is dead, and that his son has been killed in the trenches. She steps forward and discloses her identity. The old man, who proves to be a lawyer who is searching for Tom, asks where his lordship is. Lulu tells the old man that Tom is in jail where he put him. Tom is released and told of his good fortune. He and Lulu lose no time in getting home to England. There they are married at once and go to the castle.
- The sailor John gets married and becomes a painting artist.
- James Sheridan becomes wealthy and a power in a Middle West city, where his entire life is absorbed in the turmoil of his own creation. The only thing he lacks is social standing, and this he strives to gain by methods he has successfully employed in driving a business deal. His two oldest sons, Jim and Roscoe, like him are products of the turmoil, but the youngest, Bibbs, is a weakling with a penchant for books. The father insists on Bibbs working in the factory, but as it is distasteful to him, and he is physically unfit for the task, his health fails and he is sent to a sanitarium. In the same city lives the Vertrees family, poor, but true aristocrats, and Sheridan determines that his son Jim should marry the young daughter Mary, and thus make a wedge for the family into social prominence. He arranges a big dinner, with a vulgar display of luxury, which Mary Vertrees is compelled to attend because of a financial obligation Sheridan holds over her father. That night she is made to understand that she is to marry Jim, and she concedes to make the sacrifice. At the height of the dinner party Bibbs returns from the sanitarium but the family ignores him and Mary is attracted to him out of pity. Middle son Roscoe is unhappily married to Sibyl; like his father he is lost in the turmoil of endeavor, and she is obliged to seek companionship elsewhere. She becomes infatuated with Robert Lamhorn, a worthless young man who is secretly engaged to Edith, the only daughter of the House of Sheridan. Jim proposes to Mary Vertrees, and she asks him to wait a while for her answer. Sibyl and Edith quarrel over Lamhorn, and Sibyl, knowing Mary's hold over the elder Sheridan, asks her to go to him and tell him that Edith and Robert are engaged and that Robert is only marrying her for her money. Sibyl's words remind Mary that she will be doing the same thing if she marries Jim. She writes Jim a letter refusing his offer of marriage. Much to his father's delight, Jim has built a large warehouse in half the time contractors said was necessary for the undertaking. Accompanied by inspectors, Jim is on the roof of the building when it collapses, and he is killed. Sheridan is brokenhearted over his death; his sorrow is doubled by the fact that Roscoe, worried over "domestic affairs, has taken to drink. He then strives harder than ever to make Bibbs a thorough businessman, and his successor. Edith elopes with Robert, and Bibbs is the only one left to him. Bibbs has become attached to Mary, and on her advice agrees on a business career. She loves him, but thinks his attentions are prompted through pity for her. She refuses his proffer of marriage for the same reason she refused his brother. When Bibbs learns this, he quits his place with his father, and he informs him he does not want any of his fortune. Sheridan awakens to the situation, and pays Mr. Vertrees $50,000 for some worthless street railway stock. Mary's family thus becomes financially comfortable, she accepts Bibbs' renewed proposal of marriage, and he becomes the leading spirit in the Sheridan enterprises.
- McTeague begins life in the mines. He later becomes an unlicensed practicing dentist. He is a man of violent physical passions, but until he meets little Trina, who visits his dental office, his love instincts have never been aroused. McTeague induces Trina to marry him through the sheer force of his domineering personality. The couple are not happy. Trina develops miserly instincts and when she wins a $5,000 lottery prize, she hoards the money and grows more and more avaricious. McTeague quarrels with Marcus, his former rival for Trina's affections, and the ill feeling between the two men leads to a fierce combat in which McTeague proves the victor. In revenge Marcus has McTeague prevented from practicing dentistry because he has no diploma. McTeague leans on Trina for support but she turns him away. Trina has a severe illness and while recuperating develops a mania for fondling her hoarded gold pieces. McTeague returns to find Trina showering handfuls of gold upon her bed. After a terrific scene he strangles her and steals the money. Marcus, determined to avenge Trina's death, trails the fugitive McTeague into the heart of Death Valley, where the two men come at last face to face in a final battle to the death under the blistering desert sun.
- Inez Valenti is the niece of Grant Thorne, who runs a gambling house. She acts as a lure for her uncle's den. Barry King becomes infatuated with her, and this gives her a violent aversion to the life she has been living "behind closed doors." Elsa Montford, daughter of the Judge, is saddened by King's attentions to Inez. Thorne also becomes jealous of King. They fight in the gambling house; Thorne is shot, and King throwing the pistol away, runs, but is caught. Elsa has seen the affair and tells her father who takes her to the police station, where she identifies Barry among the other prisoners. Inez is in despair when she learns that there was a witness to the affair whom the State has in charge, and refuses to leave the city while he is in danger. She sends for Elsa, and tries to bribe her to keep silent, but on refusal offers her a glass of wine which has been drugged, but Elsa breaks the glass and escapes. Inez tries to get Barry to jump his bail, but Elsa pleads with him to stay and fight it out. He agrees and writes to Inez telling her he loves Elsa. Inez, in despair, writes out a full confession of her life, and declares that she and not Barry killed Thorne, Barry having kept silent as to having taken the pistol from her in order to avoid incriminating her. Elsa reads the confession. When she has finished she phones to the district attorney and together they go to Inez's room where they find her a suicide.
- Factory owner John Gray takes ill during a strike at his factory. His doctor suggests that John's brother David, who looks just like him, take his place at home and at the factory. Although the two are look exactly like each other, in temperament and personality they are exact opposites--John is cruel and brutish to both his family and his employees, while David is considerate, thoughtful and kind to everyone. When John sees the effect that David has on his employees--and his wife--by treating them humanely, he begins to re-evaluate the way his own life has turned out, and why.
- In Milville, Kittredge St. John meets his old confederate, Roxane Bellairs, and they decide to "clean up" the town. Kittredge has a scheme, he tells Roxane, which he is going to keep secret even from her. He employs a cultured man, who is the exact double of himself in appearance, and instructs him that his duty will be to represent him at social functions as Kittredge St. John. Roxane works her way into the good graces of Major Holbrook and Mr. Bonwit, of the Milville hank. Society in Milville is entertained at Mrs. Shackleton's ball. The double, in love with Dorothy Paget, leaves after the ball in company with Major Holbrook, for the club for a game of cards. Roxane, who sees what is going on between the double and Dorothy Paget, becomes jealous, believing that the man is Kittredge. During the night of the ball, the Milville bank is robbed, and detectives discover Kittredge St. John as the burglar. The double is arrested but proves an alibi by Major Holbrook. Mr. Bonwit is in love with Roxane and lavishes gifts and money upon her. In honor of the engagement, Mrs. Shackleton gives a dinner party. While the guests are in the dining room, the house is robbed and the maid finds Kittredge at the safe, screaming her discovery, but Kittredge escapes into the next house. The double, however, is in the country with Dorothy Paget's family. Believing the double in the country to be Kittredge, the guests discredit the maid's story.
- When Dr. Beatrice Barlow, who has recently been appointed to the city health commission, disregards a warning about denouncing as unsafe and unsanitary a tenement which Mayor Glynn owns, she is fired. After learning that the city's newspaper is also owned by Glynn, Dr. Barlow writes to the governor and is granted a hearing the next month. Upon finding a case of smallpox in the tenement, Dr. Barlow unsuccessfully attempts to have it quarantined. When she puts up a quarantine sign herself, a health official struggles with her, but a man appears and thrashes the official. Although the mayor and his cronies hide a man in her hotel room to compromise her, the man who helped her learns of the plot, and it is foiled. When the tenement catches fire, the man rescues Dr. Barlow, but she is then lured to a sanitarium and imprisoned. The man finds her, arrests her keepers and brings her to the hearing in time to present evidence against the mayor, who is imprisoned. Finally the man reveals himself to be the governor's private secretary.
- The young poacher Hendrik van Norden has seriously wounded a game-keeper, who has not recognized him. However, there was one witness to Hendrik's misstep, the old sea captain Van Oort, but for the sake of Hendrik's old mother he promises to keep silent. Five years later Hendrik has become a lighthouse-keeper and is courting Annie, the housekeeper of the miser Van der Meulen. Van Oort, one of the miser's few friends, is also trying to win Annie's affections - in vain. One evening, when he sees Annie and Hendrik embracing, Van Oort, in an access of jealousy, reminds Hendrik of what he knows about his past as a poacher.
- Thrown out of her home by a jealous husband, a woman sinks into degradation. Twenty years later, she is charged with killing a man bent on harming her son. The son, unaware of who the woman is, takes the assignment to defend her in court.
- Financial troubles force Nell Carroll, a thoroughbred, to seek employment in a detective agency which has just taken up the trail of a very baffling jewelry robbery in an exclusive summer colony. In order to work from the inside, she is sent to the place as the Baroness Du Vassey. Suspicion promptly fastens upon Teddy De Veaux, the son of the woman who first invites Nell to her home. Every evidence points to him until the leader of the crooks, suspecting the real identity of the "baroness." decides to present himself as the Baron Du Vassey, her husband. The arrival of the "baron" causes consternation in the heart of Nell, who does not know whether she is facing an impostor or has chanced upon the name of a real nobleman. Trusting to chance to give her some hint as to the truth, she decides to face the man and attempt to outwit him. But more than wits are necessary to defeat the crook, with whom the butler is allied. It comes to a question of a steady hand and quick trigger finger when the thieves are caught red-handed and spring upon the innocent young Teddy.