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- The cartoonist, Winsor McCay, brings the Dinosaurs back to life in the figure of his latest creation, Gertie the Dinosaur.
- A married diplomat falls hopelessly under the spell of a predatory woman.
- Having committed murder in Belgium, Fantomas is sentenced to life imprisonment. Two crimes committed in France suggest to inspector Juve that the Fantomas gang is still at work. He conceives the idea that if Fantomas is set free it will be possible to follow him and capture him and the remaining members of the gang. The villain escapes from prison and makes his way to the railroad station and boards a train where he is tracked by private detectives. When the train stops at a country station, Fantomas alights with the intention of making good his escape, but he finds that he is being followed by two detectives, whom he recognizes. He goes back to his carriage, which leads the detectives to think he is quite safe, but he crosses the train and leaves by the opposite door, jumping into the baggage wagon of the train on the opposite rail. Just at that moment the train moves and a magistrate who happens to have nearly missed the train also jumps into the baggage wagon. Fantomas was who hiding, attacks the magistrate, and after a severe struggle in which he is victorious assumes the disguise of the magistrate and takes his clothes and papers. He continues the journey as the magistrate, successfully rescues certain criminals, who are brought before him to be tried, and manages to blackmail several members of society, with whom he is brought in contact. While here he is recognized by Fandor, the young and clever journalist who happens to come into the district and who has suspicions as to the authenticity of the magistrate. He decides to keep watch upon him. His suspicions are well founded and he identifies the magistrate as none other than Fantomas. After much trouble, he is able to get papers committing Fantomas to prison, but Fantomas' suspecting his immediate arrest, issues an order to the head warden, and tells him that it is Detective Juve's intention to be arrested disguised as Fantomas. The warden is not to tell a soul of the detective's intentional disguise, but is to let him remain in prison until 12 o'clock midnight, when the head warden is to personally release him. The police, not suspecting anything of this, feel quite safe when Fantomas is put in the cell and securely barred and locked. His scheme works favorably and once more Fantomas is at large.
- Chauncey Short, an orphan, takes a job as a clerk in a village grocery store. One day a letter arrives informing him that his uncle has died and has left him $5,000,000. Chauncey recklessly starts spending the money until he meets a banker's daughter, who has a positive influence on him. Chauncey then helps the banker through a financial crisis.
- The secret marriage of a farmer and servant girl in an English household leads to a child born that is not believed to be legitimate.
- After a love triangle results death, St. Elmo falls from grace and is eventually redeemed in this now lost silent film based on the best selling novel by Augusta Jane Wilson.
- Jack Frobisher, a sheep farmer in Queensland, has returned to England a millionaire, bought his way into the inner circle of Vanity Fair, married the daughter of a marquis, and settled in Mayfair, with a country house outside, a shooting box in Scotland, and a yacht on the "Solent." Having accepted the patronage of a titled family, he is forced to lend money to his father-in-law, and having fallen in love with a society woman, he becomes a witness of the vacuous amusements of the smart set. He settles her score when she is a very heavy loser at bridge and watches her flirtations with fashionable idlers in general and with a contemptible rake, Harry Dallas, in particular. The return of Hanky Bannister, one of his Australian pals, and a millionaire like himself, opens the way for a patrician intrigue for the enrichment of the marquis' family by the marriage of Lady Lucy Derenham. Frobisher is unable to interest Eva, his wife, or her relations in his schemes for making a good use of his money in the erection of sanitary dwellings in the East End, and he is disgusted with the tendencies of fashionable life and anxious to keep his friend, Bannister, out of a marriage similar to his own. A sympathetic friend Lady Westerby, tells him that she is disappointed in finding him so tame a bear, and assures him that he has only to shout and the walls of Jericho will fall flat. At the marquis' house during a ball, and a game of bridge in Lady Alethea Frobisher's boudoir, during which one of her titled players cheats, wins a lot of money and suddenly discovers that he has an engagement and must go. The most serious flirtation of the smart wife ends in a declaration of love by Harry Dallas, which is interrupted by the gloomy, serious husband. The trumpets of rams' horns are blown, and the Australian shouts before the Jericho of smartness. The battle opens when Frobisher insists upon helping the titled brother-in-law to marry a girl whose honor his been compromised and to make a fresh start in the colonies. The Marquis is angry over the Australian interference with family coat of honor, and Lady Alethea attempts to reduce the rebel to submission by sarcastic flings at his tiresome virtue. The trumpets sound again when Frobisher attempts to prevent a marriage between his sister-in-law and the infatuated Bannister by telling him how heartless and mercenary she is, and there is another blast when the rake, Harry Dallas, is compelled to read to the indignant husband a love letter written to the wife. The Walls of Jericho are rent asunder and thrown down when Frobisher announces that he will sell his property in England and go back to Queensland with his wife and child. The welkin rings when this social Joshua guarding the ark of the covenant of manhood shouts in trumpet tones, "I have enough of these companions of yours, these wretched sexless women who do nothing but flirt and gamble. I've had enough of their brainless, indecent talk, where everything good is turned into ridicule and each word has a double meaning. I've had enough of this existence of ours, in town and country, where all the men make love to their neighbors' wives. I'm done with it. done with it all." Furious as is the onslaught, Lady Alethea offers stubborn resistance and refuses to surrender. Later, with the mediation of Lady Westerby, before a reconciliation can be effected and Frobisher enabled to carry her off to Queensland. By that time the Walls of Jericho are indeed fallen flat.
- The Princess Lestorys, beautiful and brilliant, is much sought by London's men of affairs. Arthur Gerald, wealthy oil operator, casually remarks that he would give $100,000 for an introduction to the princess. This remark is repeated to the princess, who writes to Gerald, and suggests that in return for an invitation to her reception he forward a donation for a philanthropic institution in which she is interested. Gerald assents and sends his check for the amount. At the reception is also John Holton, a young civil engineer, deeply enamored of the princess. She declines his proposal of marriage, saying that his financial inability to provide the luxuries she demands outweighs her regard for him. Holton leaves for America, swearing to return with the necessary money. Gerald falls desperately in love with the princess. His daughter, Lena, who distrusts the adventuress, learns of her father's danger upon reading through the society columns of a newspaper. Suspicious, she obtains information from a detective agency, which brands the princess unmistakably as a peculiarly dangerous woman. Convinced by his daughter of the princess's sinister character, Gerald leaves with Lena for his oil wells in America. Meeting Holton he engages him as manager. The princess, foiled, determines upon revenge. Following Gerald to his oil lands, she hires several desperadoes to aid her in her diabolical doings. John and Lena are ambushed, the former shot and severely wounded, and the girl kidnapped. Writing to Gerald, Madam Satan, the princess, threatens dire happenings to Lena if Gerald does not fulfill his promise of marriage. Holton, revived, springs from a rock as Madam Satan's messenger passes and falls with him to the rocky ground. The messenger is subdued. The two hours elapse. No answer from Gerald. Madam Satan with her accomplices drag a cannon into the fields some distance from the petroleum tanks. The first shot penetrates the main reservoir, the fluid pouring outward upon the surface of the nearby river. A second shell explodes the works. The fire spreads to the oily fluid. In an instant the stream is ablaze from bank to bank. Her revenge incomplete, Madam Satan returns to her cabin and prepares for flight. Lashing Lena against the upright post, she ignites the cabin. In dashes Holton, weak from his wound. He moves toward releasing Lena. Madam Satan's pointed revolver halts him. Then within her stirs the old affection for the only man she had ever loved, from whom she was separated only because of his lack of money. Her revolver drops. Holton creeps forward and cuts Lena's bonds. Out from the stifling smoke and the stabbing flames he darts, carrying the insensible Lena. Madam Satan, saddened, sickened by the cumulative remorse of her wickedness, sinks upon the burning pyre.
- The story tells of a woman who to hold her husband's love becomes a thief. Marie, the erring wife, pressed by debts, begins thievery in a small way at first. She grows bolder and bolder and carries on her peculations even under the noses of her husband's detectives. A young fool who loves her allows suspicion to fall upon him. But at last the truth is wrung from her.
- The story is laid in Palestine, sixty years after the destruction of the last temple by Titus. The lot of the Jews was not a happy one during the succeeding reigns, but they were a fairly contented people until Hadrian ascended the throne. It is at this point that the opening scene of the picture begins, and leads the spectator back to the magnificent scenery of the Holy Land. It pictures Hadrian who decrees that Jerusalem be rebuilt as a Roman city. The temple is turned into an arena, where lions are roaring over the prey that is cast them, and bloody gladiatorial contests are presented. The oppression now becomes so terrible that the people can bear it no longer, and the vigorous younger party, under the leadership of Bar-Kochba, the noblest of the Jews, begins to sow the seeds of rebellion throughout the land. Now a flowery garden is presented to the sight, and the Oriental tribes that collect there to crown Bar-Kochba in secret are to offer their lives for the sake of a common cause. But it is through Paphos, a Phoenician cripple, disappointed in his mad passion for Dinah. Bar-Kochba's beloved, that destruction descends upon everyone. With his insidious plots, he works upon Rufus to such an extent that he casts Dinah into a cell after accusing her father, Eleazar, the leader of the Council of Elders, of inciting the rebellion. Not content with all this mischief, Paphos informs Bar-Kochba of Dinah's imprisonment Bar-Kochba hastens to the rescue and is seen just after the first chariot race entering the great arena, where a multitude of Romans are celebrating the downfall of Jerusalem. He defies Rufus and demands that Dinah be set free. Rufus commands Horatius to slay him. Defenseless as he is. Bar-Kochba sweeps him aside with one thrust of his mighty arm, but spares his life. Rufus now orders him cast to the lions. Bar-Kochba advances upon the raging beasts, quells them with his glance, and drives them into the crowned seats. Terrified, the Romans fly from the arena. Bar-Kochba has been successful all along the line, and has driven the Romans into Magdala. Within the fortress Paphos makes a final effort to win Dinah, is repulsed again, and determines to cause her death. He watches Rufus staggering drunkenly into a cell. Dinah lures him, and is about to dispatch him when his wife, summoned by Paphos, saves him. A messenger excitedly announces that the Jews are attacking the town. On the advice of Paphos, Dinah is exposed on the battlements and threatened with death unless Bar-Kochba withdraws his army. Bar-Kochba is before the walls of Magdala. Dinah appears on the tower, but rather than hinder her people, dashes herself to pieces on the rocks below. Infuriated by the death of Dinah, the Jews storm the town and set it on fire. The enemy perish in the ruins. Three years of bloody warfare have swept the Romans from the land. Bar-Kochba, king of Judea, welcomes all the people to his realm, irrespective of race, creed or color. He would have kept the Romans at bay. In spite of the fact that Hadrian sent his best generals and the pick of his legionaries against him, were it not for the despicable treachery of Paphos, the Phoenician. Bar-Kochba trusts him blindly, and believes his accusation that Eleazar had surrendered Dinah to the Romans. Maddened by the terrible misfortunes that had befallen him, Bar-Kochba calls Eleazar traitor before the Elders and plunges a dagger into his breast. Just then news comes that the war has recommenced, and Bar-Kochba hastens to defend the frontier. But Bar-Kochba is beaten everywhere and driven into Bethar. Hope flickers for a moment, but Paphos commits his most stupendous piece of treachery. He leads the Romans by a secret passageway into the fortress, and the Jewish cause is lost. Bar-Kochba fights his way through the enemies' lines and tries to lead his reserves to the attack. But seeing all his efforts useless, he falls on his sword as Eleazar's spirit towers above him.
- Judge Livingston, a wealthy jurist, lives happily in a mansion with his young wife, Josephine, and his daughter, Eleanor, child of the judge's first wife. Dick Winthrop, the judge's private secretary, is in love with Eleanor, and she returns his affection. They become betrothed, and the judge approves their engagement. Mrs. Livingston, Eleanor's step-mother, buys goods extravagantly at fashionable shopping places, and has the goods charged to her account. Dick receives a letter from a bank, saying that Mrs. Livingston has overdrawn her account $1,100, and requesting settlement without disturbing Judge Livingston. Dick tries to persuade Mrs. Livingston to attend to the overdrawn account, but she becomes angry and resolves to break Dick's engagement to Eleanor. Mrs. Livingston then tells the judge that Dick is not a proper fiancé for Eleanor. Eleanor finds recreation in doing settlement work, attracting the attention of several men engaged in white slavery acts. These evildoers forge a note purporting to be from a poor woman, asking Eleanor to come to her aid in the tenements. Leaving the note on a desk in her home, Eleanor goes to render the aid asked, and when she arrives at the address given, the white slavers seize her and make her a prisoner. Dick accidentally finds the note and rushes to rescue Eleanor, as he feels that the note was forged. Dick arrives at the house where Eleanor is held captive, and, after a desperate fight with the plotters, the men are taken prisoners. Eleanor and Dick manage to return home. The debts Mrs. Livingston owes become pressing; she tries at night to steal funds from her husband's safe, and Dick finds her near the safe. To escape accusation, Mrs. Livingston charges Dick with the theft, and he, to shield her, shoulders the blame in the presence of the judge and Eleanor. The judge believes his wife, and tells Dick he must leave the house forever. Mrs. Livingston then repents, tells her husband she alone is to blame, begs his forgiveness.
- Clara, a pretty little school teacher, is courted by two young mountaineers. She favors Jim Mason, who is the postmaster of the village, and Harry Barford, his rival, determines to get Jim out of the way, so that he can win her. Jim and Clara decide to marry as soon as Jim has enough money. Harry sees his chance and offers Jim $500 to manage an illicit whiskey still during his absence. Clara's scruples are overcome by the thought of an early marriage and Jim reluctantly consents. Harry immediately informs the sheriff and a posse is sent to arrest Jim. But Billy, the village idiot, who has fallen asleep while playing his little tin flute, overhears the conversation between Harry and the sheriff and informs Clara of Jim's danger. Jim hides in the woods upon the approach of the posse and, meeting Clara, they flee, both riding on the same horse. A long chase through the snow-covered mountains in which they are closely pressed by the sheriff's posse, forces them to a spot among the jagged cliffs, where their only means of escaping their pursuers is a fifty-eight foot plunge into a raging torrent full of broken ice. They urge their horse over the edge of the cliff and plunge to the depths below miraculously escaping with their lives and safely reaching the shore. They take refuge in an Indian village and the chief, a giant Indian over seven feet tall, appoints himself a committee of one to compel the little fat parson to marry them. Clara returns to the village and Jim goes to New York to prepare a home for her. Barford is appointed postmaster and succeeds in intercepting Jim's mail, meanwhile forcing his attentions upon Jim's wife. Not hearing from Clara, Jim decides to take a desperate chance and return to the village by a dangerous route, which will enable him to elude the guardians of the law. In order to do this he is forced to walk hand over hand across a cable 250 feet long, placed by a lumber company over a deep ravine. Arriving at Clara's house he finds her in the arms of Barford, not knowing he has forcibly placed his arms around her. Jim leaves broken-hearted and is seen by Barford, who follows him at a distance. As Jim is re-crossing the 250 feet of cable, Barford shoots him in the arm, in spite of which he succeeds in escaping and returns to New York. A baby is born to Clara, and she determines to find Jim at all costs and tell him that he is a proud father. She goes to New York, and being in need of money, accepts the offer of a motion picture company to jump from the Brooklyn Bridge for $10,000. Jim, who is desperate and out of work, accepts the offer of the same company to also make the leap, and is horror-struck by recognizing his wife, just as she throws herself from the giant structure into the icy waters below. He leaps after her and succeeds in aiding her to reach a tug-boat, where she rests happily in her lost husband's arms. They make a new attempt to get possession of their baby, but are caught in their cabin by Barford and the posse, where a fierce fight is interrupted by a misdirected blow, which fells the poor village fool, Billy. He is revived and it is discovered that the blow has restored his sanity. He tells of Harford's villainy and produces evidence that brands him as the real criminal and leaves Jim and Clara free to enjoy each other's love.
- "The Idler" is Mark Cross, a young man of good family, who in a wild fit of daredeviltry has emigrated from London to the far west. John Harding, also well-born of wealthy parents, but disinherited, and a poor clerk, is also seeking his fortune in the gold fields. One day Harding receives a letter from a firm of London solicitors informing him that his father has died and that he is now Sir John Harding, Bart. He sets out at once to make his preparations for his return to civilization and to take up the station in life that is rightfully his. But that very day he becomes involved in a quarrel with Felix Strong, the young brother of a miner named Simeon Strong, and Felix is shot accidentally during the dispute. Harding is accused of murder, but flees to England in time to escape the vengeance of a posse, headed by Simeon Strong, who is determined to avenge his brother. Years after in London, Harding, who has married the girl both he and Cross were in love with before they emigrated, comes face to face with Cross and Strong, who have become partners and have "struck it rich." In order to win Lady Harding for his own Cross allows the evil side of his nature to get the upper hand of him and plots to have Strong kill Sir John in a duel. Strong slaps Harding in the face in the foyer of the opera house in order that he may involve him in "an affair of honor" and avenge his brother's death by killing Harding. Cross in the meantime lures Lady Harding to his rooms where Sir John comes to seek her. She hides in Mark Cross's bedroom, but reveals herself at a dramatic moment when Harding, shouting "Curse you, I'll kill you," springs at Cross's throat. Her splendid nature, as shown in her denunciation of both men, one as a husband without faith in his wife and the other as the would-be destroyer of a home, overcomes them with shame. They shake hands and Mark, parting forever with Lady Harding, orders his valet to pack his things for he is off "on a long trail."
- A jockey and a bettor are the victims of a corrupt bookmaker.
- At a lonely army post in the West, a dance marking the engagement announcement of the general's daughter to Lieutenant Hawkesworth is interrupted when word arrives that the hostile Blackfoot tribe is on the warpath. Hawkesworth and the rival for his fiancee's affection, Lieutenant Parlow, are sent with the regiment to repress the uprising. Parlow turns out to be a coward at a critical moment, and after the regiment is routed, he blames Hawkesworth for the defeat. The general then orders his daughter to break her engagement and become Parlow's fiancee. The Blackfeet surround the fort, and Hawkesworth makes a daring ride through them to a neighboring fort. He brings the U.S. 6th Cavalry, who subdue the Blackfeet. Parlow's cowardice is then learned, and it is also revealed that earlier he eloped with the wife of an officer and then abandoned her. Hawkesworth and the general's daughter become married.
- A Parisian doctor, infatuated with the wife of his benefactor, drugs and kidnaps her, and tries to convince the husband that she is dead.
- Murice Brachard, a dock laborer, rises to be a "Samson" of finance with terrific power and a primordial ferocity, which he needs when his wife spurns his devotion, and people he trusts try to pull down the structure of wealth he has erected.
- 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.
- The first scenes take us to a temple beside the shores of a sacred river where virgins, clad in white, directed by solemn gray-bearded priests, go through the ritual of the worship of the lotus flower. While the sweet rites of worship are being observed in the temple, a troop of English soldiers, led by Sir Percy Grenville, their commander, approaches the temple. The English party is in pursuit of native hostiles, who have taken a trail leading to the temple. The worship is rudely interrupted by the coming of the English soldiers. Their commander, attracted by a glittering sacred jewel in the head of Buddha, ignores the protests of the priestess and wails of the priest, tears the precious stone from the sockets of the eyeball. Metta, the priestess, and Kassapa, a rich Brahmin, resolve, before the altar of Buddha to recover the diamond of their God at all costs. Sir Percy is recalled to England, and Metta and Kassapa embark on the same vessel. A silent but determined struggle for the possession of the diamond ensues. Sir Percy keeps the sacred jewel in spite of all, and landing in England, promises to give it to his bride on their wedding day. Metta and Kassapa, in various disguises, try to get possession of the diamond, but the precious stone is safely stowed away in the safe of Sir Percy's father-in-law. Metta has now fallen in love with the handsome English officer, and opposes the plan of Kassapa to kill him in order to obtain the diamond. Just as the goblet is taken up by the British officer, and he is about to touch his lips to the rim of the cup, Metta dashes it from his hands. She still however, is determined to recover the diamond, and when on a sailing trip with Sir Percy and his fiancée, the former falls overboard and cannot swim. Forgetful of her love and devotion to the cause of Buddha and at the risk of her life, she jumps overboard and brings Sir Percy safely to the shore. The last attempt is made to get possession of the sacred jewel. Metta and Kassapa, in the dead of night, steal into the room of Sir Percy, and are about to open the safe when Ethel, fiancée of Sir Percy, surprises them. The whole truth now comes out. Metta and Kassapa declare that they have come to recover their god's jewel, and point to the ill-luck that it has so far brought to Sir Percy. Ethel and her father decide to restore the jewel to the possession of the priestess and her companion. Metta, however, bears back with her to far off India, not only the sacred jewel, but a deathly wound in her heart. She cannot forget Sir Percy, and when she is once more within the hollow shades of the temple, she dances with a devotion and fervor which she has never displayed before, for her beating heart tells her that this is to be her last dance before the altar of her God. As she completes the dance her heart fails and she dies.
- Their eyes heavy with grief, Edith and Violet, dancers, return from the funeral of their sister, Grace. They find a letter marked, "To be opened after my burial," which encloses a photograph. This, the dead sister identifies as the man who has wronged her and through his falseness has brought her to her death. Her request is that her sisters seek him out and avenge her. Strangely enough, she omits to mention his name and address. Conjuring before them the image of the beloved departed, Edith and Violet swear to find the unknown and wreak their worst upon him. Assuming new names to aid their search, the sisters are engaged to dance in a music hall. Here comes Viscount Henry, and a party of friends. This count is peculiarly attracted by the mysterious masked sisters. He asks the manager to introduce him. Violet's beauty is the source of particular attraction. The other sister fears danger and recalls to her her sister's fate. This count persists, although a likeness to the dead Grace, to whom he once promised marriage, causes him uneasiness. Edith, calling upon the viscount to learn the purpose of his attentions, accidentally finds her late sister's portrait. Returning with the portrait of the viscount the sisters compare the one which the sister had enclosed in her last letter. They are identical. Edith reminds Violet of their oath of vengeance. It falls to Edith's lot to execute the oath. She goes to the viscount's house and confronts him with his guilt. He orders his servants to arrest her. She escapes. Keenly anxious, the other sister, Violet, comes to the house about this time. She is daunted by the onrush of the pursuers who are chasing her sister. Mistaking Violet for Edith, they pursue the former, and a stern and exciting chase it is. Edith, in the meantime, returns to the house, where she meets the Viscount, now unprotected by his servants. A shot from Edith's revolver, and a long fall down a secret passage ends his evil life.
- The story revolves about a young woman who is forced to enter the Russian Secret Service on the threat that if she did not do so her father, an active Nihilist, would be put to death. Before her own eyes he is tortured in the prison and to stop these inhuman tortures, she falls in with the plan to rout out the Nihilist organization. In the furtherance of their designs, the Secret Service authorities introduce her into the home of Prince Cyril, who is suspected of being in sympathy with the Revolutionists. She unwillingly does her task, which is made very easy by Prince Cyril's admiration for her personally and his sympathy with her father's plight. He introduces her into his circle of radicals, but before very long a dramatic scene develops that places her under suspicion. During a meeting of the radicals, she disappears in the secret recesses of their subterranean meeting-place and the most vigorous search for her proves of no avail. After the meeting breaks up and the conspirators leave in a spirit of unrest, she emerges from her hiding-place in a well and guided by an image of her father suffering in his prison, she purloins evidence for the Government. In the meantime, Prince Cyril, guided by traces she had left, follows her to her home and persuades her to return the incriminating papers. However, when Government officials arrive and are told that she had been unsuccessful in her attempt to aid them, her servant, who is spying on her, betrays Prince Cyril's visit. They bind her and leave her in charge of two soldiers, while the others in haste gallop off after the Prince. In the meantime, one of the soldiers, who is secretly in league with the Revolutionists, aids her in making escape. Prince Cyril, after a very sensational chase, is captured and imprisoned. With the aid of this soldier she is able later on to meet the Government General, who, completely disarmed by her innocent charms, falls a victim to her scheme to liberate her father and the Prince. However, before she succeeds in this plan, she undergoes considerable suffering and agonizing suspense. The Cossacks trace her and those whom she had liberated from prison to their subterranean hiding-place, but by vigilance and careful planning they make their escape to America after blowing up their former abode with bombs planted by the Russian soldiers.
- In this story the hero is haunted by a beautiful young woman who tries to stab him to death with a knife. This fantasy recurs on each of his birthdays, becoming more and more real as the years go on. He leaves home to secure a place as groom, but arrives at his destination too late. Forced to retrace his steps, he seeks shelter in a little inn, forgetting that the hour of his birth is approaching. In the middle of the night he awakens, terrified with fright. Standing by his bed with a deadly knife in her hand is "The Dream Woman." She plunges the blade into the mattress as he squirms out of the way. Twice she attempts to reach him. He yells for help. The innkeeper and his family are aroused. Seeing nothing, they drive him away for disturbing them. As he is escaping the apparition appears once more. Fear lends speed to his quaking legs and he runs until he falls exhausted in his mother's arms. Francis Raven, the young man, is home from his hair-raising adventure. His mother is sick and he goes to the druggist for medicine. While there, Alicia Warlock, a very pretty girl, enters. It is easily discerned that she has been wayward; that she is tired of life. She asks the druggist to sell her laudanum. He refuses. As she goes out, she attracts Raven's attention. He is fascinated and follows. When he introduces Alicia to his mother, that good but very superstitious woman receives her with askance. But the son is infatuated and when the mother orders the girl away he goes with her and the two are married. They settle down in a home of their own, but when Raven is absent his wife associates with questionable companions. She drinks and is frequently under the influence of liquor. He finds her in this state and scolds her, but she is defiant. Not willing to give her up, he summons his mother, who promises to use her influence toward reforming the girl. But the mother sees her daughter-in-law cutting bread with the same knife that has always been a part of her son's dream and runs away. Not long afterward, Raven finds his wife stupefied with whiskey. He handles her roughly and finally strikes her. She falls to the floor completely sobered by the blow. In a second the husband regrets his hasty temper, but his wife, beside herself with rage, declares she will murder him with the very knife that has tortured him in his dreams. He gets the knife and vows to put it where his wife cannot find it, but while traveling a lonely road he is attacked, the knife is stolen from him and he is thrown into a well, from which he escapes. A few years elapse and Raven is engaged in the care of horses. Upon the anniversary of his birth two strangers, a man and his wife, employ him to drive them to their station. Having heard his cries they ask for an explanation and he tells his weird story. They pity and employ him as a second groom. To protect him over his birthday the first groom is instructed to watch him constantly during the night. But the first groom while in the village flirts with a woman who readily accepts an invitation to visit his lodgings. Just as she is about to partake of food and refreshments there are groans and cries of distress in an adjoining room. The first groom, not wishing to be disturbed, goes to the frightened man, ties him hand and foot, places a gag in his mouth and returns to the woman he picked up in the street. He does not have much time to revel in her society, however, because his mistress calls him. While he is gone, Alicia steals into the adjoining apartment, recognized the helpless occupant of the bed, draws a knife from the folds of her skirt and plunges it into his heart. The story ends in the fascinating atmosphere of the spirit world with the "Dream Woman" enveloped in soul stirring mystery.
- Old Reb Shemuel, clinging in the midst of modern conditions to the God of His Fathers, bears blow after blow with unflinching resignation. His son is killed in a cabaret brawl; his daughter contracts a marriage that estranges her from him. His beloved wife dies. But in the end his gray hairs are comforted by the return of his daughter, and his simple and unwavering faith is rewarded in the sunset of his days.
- Betty, an orphan girl of sixteen, is abused at an orphanage, and one evening after an unusually trying episode, she escapes. She rides a freight car to a distant city. There she wanders cold and hungry, and at last falls fainting in a park. Francis Seeman, a Raffles, driving by in his limousine, rescues her. He adopts and educates Betty. At the school she meets Gladys, the daughter of a wealthy man, and the girls become very good chums. At the end of the four years Betty returns to Seeman, and then he discloses his purpose in adopting her. She is horror-stricken, but forced by threats to follow instructions. He and Betty go to another city to begin their operations. Seeman forges a letter of introduction to one of the wealthiest men of the town, and thereby gains social recognition. He and Betty are invited to a fashionable function, Betty posing as Seeman's daughter. There she meets Gladys, her school chum and a niece of the hostess. Seeman forces Betty to steal the latter's diamond necklace. A few days later Gladys calls on Betty, and incidentally shows her a beautiful rope of pearls. Just as she is showing them to Betty, Seeman enters. After Gladys has gone, Seeman commands Betty to get the pearls. Betty refuses, and Seeman, enraged, tries to choke her. Betty, frightened, seizes a hat pin and stabs Seeman with it. He falls to the floor. She then goes to the safe and takes some money, and finds Mrs. Mills' necklace. Deliberately she takes the jewels and strews them across Seeman's body, so the public may know who stole them. Betty retires to the country, posing as a widow, and takes a little cottage, as it happens next to the young clergyman, Roger Neville. She and Roger become very good friends, but the villagers disapprove. One day a little boy comes for Roger to go to the bedside of a dying woman. Betty goes along. The woman they find already dead, leaving a boy of four. Roger suggests one of the villagers adopt the orphan, but all the women answer that they already have too many mouths of their own to feed, and to send the child to the orphanage. The picture of what she had suffered at the orphanage rises before Betty, and she begs to take the boy. The villagers sniff and turn up their noses, declaring Betty did this only to make an impression. In the meantime Seeman is taken to the hospital. He lies between life and death, held for the robberies. Seeman at last is on the road to recovery, and determined not to go to prison alone, he tells the detectives Betty is his accomplice, and gives them a picture of her. They begin their search. One day when the papers are delivered to the villagers, they see a picture of Betty on the front page, telling why she is wanted. The minister receives the paper, and reads the article. Upon his persuasion, Betty tells her story. In the meantime the detectives arrive, and the village people are only too eager to show them where Betty is. At the trial Betty tells her story to the judge and jury, and it wins her case, the judge giving Seeman a long term in the penitentiary. Gladys is at the trial, and shows her loyalty toward Betty.
- The leading character, nicknamed "Hook and Hand," is a crook who operates with a hook which he had substituted for a lost left hand. "Hook" is associated in crime with Philip Sleek, a stepson of William Hartman, a banker. Hartman, the old millionaire, does not know of Philip's existence, his wife, for personal reasons, having omitted to mention him. He is a good for nothing, and for a time lives on his mother's generosity. She meets the boy secretly and does whatever she can to give him new starts in life, but all her efforts are of no avail. After "Hook" robs Hartman's establishment, at Philip's instigation, the mother, not knowing where her son had secured a big sum of money, prevails upon her husband to take his stepson into partnership, telling him that he is a cousin returned from abroad. In the meantime the crime is cleverly fastened upon Mr. Hartman's confidential secretary. This upsets the household arrangements because the secretary was to have married Mr. Hartman's adopted daughter. The story is still further complicated by "Hook and Hand's" refusal to enter into a conspiracy that would lead to the destruction of Miss Hartman. Here the clever operations of William Fox, a very crafty detective, who is engaged by Miss Hartman to unravel the mystery surrounding the accusations against her sweetheart, are productive of sensational results. A good many encounters take place between the gang and the police. The young detective finds himself in many tight places. The hero, not knowing at the last moment that he had been vindicated by a deathbed confession by "Hook and Hand," makes a spectacular escape from the officers in charge of his removal from the court to the State Penitentiary. The young man jumps from the window of a very fast moving train into the river, and thus makes on unnecessary getaway. The final scenes are full of thrill, showing the round-up of the gang and the burning of their dive, in which Miss Hartman is imprisoned and from which she is rescued by the police and Detective Fox.
- Larry Thorn, a novelist and man of wealth, loves and is engaged to Miss Julie Rider. While at a fashionable ball, Larry discovers Julia encouraging the attention of Baron Von Keller. Some nights later at the club the Baron insults Larry and an arrangement to fight a duel is made between them. The Baron, really afraid of meeting Larry, sends word of the challenge, living time and place, anonymously to Julia. Julia arrives in time to stop the duel, returns the engagement ring to Larry, and shows her preference for the Baron. Larry becomes piqued and discouraged with women and society in general and decides to go away and forget. He takes up a sort of hermitage in a river bottom section of the country, where he builds a shelter in a tree. In this vicinity there lives a blind old miser with an only daughter, very pretty, but a wild, uneducated, impulsive creature who has never known a mother's love or care. In fact, has seen few people outside of her association with the blind father. Larry chances by the old man's house and sees this odd little creature, answering to the name of Hazel. He only gives her a passing thought, but later when alone in the forest the thought of her comes back and she becomes an inspiration to him for a great novel. Allen, a wealthy farmer in the vicinity, sees Hazel and because of her odd manner and wonderful beauty, desires her for himself. He calls on her father and with a big sum of gold and whiskey buys her from the old man. Hazel, from her attic room, overhears the bargain and that night escapes to the woods. After hours of flight she walks into a bed of quicksand. Larry is startled from his sleep by her cries for help and arrives in time to save the girl from a certain death. He carries her to his camp, recognizes her and offers to take her back home. She tells him why she ran away and begs him to help her. Larry finds a home for her with an old farmer's widow, who soon brings out the good qualities in the girl, dresses her neatly and when Larry calls to see her he can hardly believe Hazel the same girl. He continues his novel with Hazel as the central figure and unconsciously falls deeply in love with her. The heavy rains set in; the rivers break their banks and the entire country is flooded. Farmer Allen, unable to get his purse back from the old, blind father of Hazel, finds his chance for revenge when he sees the old man's little farm flooded. He calls at the house, tells the old miser of the rising waters and offers to lead him to safety. The old man gets his treasure box from its hiding place. Allen wrests it from him. locks the old man in the room to die like a rat in a trap, escapes with the treasure box and rows up the river, but meets with disaster and Allen and the miser's hoard are swallowed by the whirlpool of muddy waters. Hazel, hearing of the rising water, calls upon Larry to go to the rescue of her blind father. The old man's house has been washed into the river bed, but the old man has managed to get on the roof where Larry, after some daring feats, finally rescues him and brings him to Hazel. Larry takes Hazel and her father back to his home, marries Hazel and gets a specialist to restore the old man's sight. His novel, inspired by Hazel, becomes a big success and he takes Hazel to a ball given in his honor where, in a beautiful gown, she does honor and credit to his standing, and becomes the social favorite of the season.
- At an early age Rose O'Brien loses her mother, which leaves her without a relative in the world. She goes to live with some neighbors, during which time a typical Fagan discovers her plight, and through promises of pretty dresses, induces her to steal. She is arrested, found guilty, and placed in the charge of a probation officer. This officer finds a good position for her in a wealthy family. The son later falls in love with her. They are secretly married, and the following day Rose finds another woman in her husband's arms. Not knowing that he merely picked up the woman from a faint, Rose leaves her husband, and being a good dancer goes to the city, where she secures an engagement in a theatrical company. In the meantime, her husband, who loves her and who does not understand her flight, is taken abroad for his health, and rapidly declines. At the end of the year, however, he returns home, and a dinner is given in his honor. Rose, now a famous dancer, is engaged to dance at the dinner, where she and her husband are mutually surprised in their recognition. Reconciliation follows, and everything ends happily.
- The princess is presiding at a reception being given in the old castle during the absence of her venerable father. The prime minister announces that the old soldier has again overcome his warring neighbors. The princess does not appear to be over elated, because she recalls that a young captain, whom she had once met in times of peace, might be among the dead or the wounded. Sure enough he is brought to a hospital, a wounded prisoner, and Elena volunteers to act as his nurse despite the protests of the prime minister. As he regains some of his normal strength he chafes under the restraint imposed upon him, and in her efforts to ease his lot, the princess issues orders that he may have use of the castle grounds. In his walks he frequently comes in contact with the princess, and while their intimacy ripens, the prime minister arrows more jealous. At length he clearly indicates his aversion to her companionship with an avowed enemy of her country, and in the name of the king seeks to restrict the captain from exercising in the grounds of the castle. The princess dismisses him and continues to secure an occasional tete-a-tete with the captain. He persistently pleads to her to help him escape from the confinement that is so galling to him and at length she accedes. She forwards to his apartments a rope ladder and a revolver hidden beneath a consignment of books. In the silence of the night he lowers his rope and makes his perilous descent to the foot of the walls. A sentry spies him, fires a warning shot, and engages the captain in a stern struggle. The captain manages, however, to break away; but soon he has a troop of cavalry on his track. He swims a river and rushes pell-mell through woodland country, but his mounted pursuers gradually gain upon him and, still weak from his wounds, he falls panting to the ground as they reach him. A court-martial quickly follows his recapture, and the dread verdict is summarily issued. Princess Elena sends for the prime minister, who has already signed the death warrant, and pleads to him to revoke it. He says he is ready to do so, but imposes, as a condition, that she should become his (the prime minister's) wife. She returns abruptly to her apartments and determines on a course which seems to her to offer the only possible way out for her and the man she loves. Under the cover of the night and closely veiled she steals to the prison and then gains admission to the cell in which the condemned man is crouched in an attitude of hopelessness. At first he thinks she is but a vision of his disordered mind, but when he folds her in his arms he understands the depth of love which has prompted her to come to him. She tells him that the chances of escape are too forlorn to attempt, and knowing that she cannot save him, she has decreed there is only one thing to do, to die together. She takes a paper knife, from her dress and hands it to him, but he recoils, and in an outburst declares that he will not die, but must go back to his country. His country comes first, and recognizing the inevitable, and the futility of their love, the princess rushes from the cell and secures a uniform of a prison warder. The captain kisses her and makes his escape. Later she is found on the floor of the cell, a victim of her own stiletto.
- Ben wins the hand of a prosperous merchant's daughter by finding the father's lost trading ship, but not before a rival suitor lays several traps along the way.
- A wealthy old scientist is preyed upon by a fortune hunter who wants to marry his granddaughter, even though she is in love with a hydroplane pilot.
- Beatrice lives with her father and her brother, Bernard, in a fishing village in Sicily. Lorenzo, a neighbor, woos Beatrice, but is repulsed, and becomes a secret enemy of Bernard. Donald Hanford, an American author, his sister, Elsie, and their friend, Dexter Harrison, come to the village as tourists. Bernard and Hanford quarrel over Anonetta, a gay Sicilian woman, and the men agree to fight a duel with pistols. Bernard, not aware of Lorenzo's enmity, makes Lorenzo his second. Hanford, having no wish to kill Bernard, extracts the bullets from his pistol but Lorenzo changes the pistols, and in the duel Bernard is shot dead. Beatrice swears a vendetta against the slayer of her brother, but the identity of the Americans being unknown to either herself or Lorenzo, she tells Lorenzo she would wed him if he locates the Americans. Lorenzo remembers having seen one of the pistols marked "D.H." Lorenzo searches, finds the Americans, and sees Harrison and his betrothed, Elsie, chatting together. Learning Harrison's initials, Lorenzo and Beatrice believe Harrison to be the slayer of Bernard. Harrison and Elsie suddenly go to London, and Beatrice sends Lorenzo there to kill Harrison. Hanford goes boating, meets disaster, and is saved from drowning by Beatrice's father, and taken to their home and nursed by her. They fall in love, Hanford proposes marriage, but Beatrice says she is bound by a vow to Lorenzo. Beatrice prays, a vision of her dead brother appears, tells her not to be bound by the vow, and later she accepts Hanford's offer to wed. Lorenzo learns in London that Harrison is not the man who shot Bernard, and returns home, there learning that the man he is to kill is betrothed to Beatrice. Lorenzo goes to a cliff to slay the lovers, but Bernard's vision comes, accuses Lorenzo of the slaying, and Lorenzo falls to his death on the rocks below the cliff.
- Dorothy Madison, a secret service operative, is sent into the West Virginia mountains to locate a still, after male operatives failed. She carries a sketching outfit and a carrier pigeon into the moonshine country, and hides the pigeon in the woods near a mountain cabin, where she hopes to make headquarters. She walks along the road until she sees Dave Parks coming, falls, feigns a sprained ankle, and is taken home by Dave, who is a young, good-looking moonshiner. Dave's mother is a sour-faced, pipe-smoking, suspicious old mountain woman, and only tolerates Dorothy. Nell Oatsey, typical mountain girl of bold beauty, hears of Dorothy's plight and goes to see her. She carries her rifle. Dorothy is in the woods near the road sketching and looking about for signs of a still. Nell sees her and approaches. Dorothy is sitting on a log back of which is a big rattlesnake ready to spring. Nell shoots the snake and saves Dorothy from being bitten, but nearly scares her to death. Dave Parks, who is Nell's sweetheart, is smitten with Dorothy and grows cold toward Nell, which increases his mother's antipathy for Dorothy. By climbing a tree and using a spyglass Dorothy discovers the still and how it is guarded. She sends the information by her carrier pigeon and arranges for a signal to raid. At the appointed time she takes Dave to the woods to sketch him, and he is her unconscious tool in arranging the signal, which is seen from a nearby hill by the secret service men. The moonshine plant is raided and Dave, who is on his way to the place, runs afoul of a secret service guard and both shoot and both are wounded. Dorothy, who has followed Dave, desires to save him from prison and goes to his aid, helping him home. He is not badly hurt and is hidden in a woodshed. After dark Dorothy helps him away and takes him home. Nest day Nell Oatsey on her way to market learns that Dave and Dorothy have disappeared. She believes Dorothy has stolen Dave from her and starts on a mission to kill Dorothy. She reaches Dorothy's home the next day and enters the library, where Dorothy and Dave are talking. She tries to shoot Dorothy, but Dave spoils her aim. She accuses Dorothy, who for the first time is found to be the wife of an operative and the mother of a beautiful three-year-old child. Dorothy's husband appears, the child follows and all is explained. Dorothy making it plain that she saves Dave because Nell had killed the snake that menaced her. She reunites Dave and Nell.
- Tom Wright, a young man, proposes to Dorothy Wilson before leaving to take up settlement work in New York. She accepts, but tells him he has to wait. Shortly after Tom leaves for New York, Jack Green secures work in Judge Wilson's law office. A short time afterwards Jack becomes heir to a fortune. He also falls in love with Dorothy. Dorothy finally decides that she cares more for Jack than she does for Tom. Jack goes to New York and receives his money. He starts to spend it, and after a short time finds that he is reduced to a state of want. In the meantime, Dorothy has come to New York to study music. She starts to lead a gay life with Jack. One night Jack assaults a man, and is sent to the hospital. Dorothy sinks lower and lower. She finally decides to end it all, as she is not fit for decent society. She jumps in the river, but is rescued by Tom Wright's co-workers in the slums. She is at once recognized by them as Tom Wright's former sweetheart. Jack, after he is released from the hospital, sees the error of his way, and Tom reunites the misguided pair.
- George Reed, a gay young rounder from the city, visits the fishing village where Ethel lives with her brother John, a fisherman. He makes love to her. She is fascinated with his manners, and consents to marry him. He seals their engagement with a bracelet of very odd and antique design, which he places on Ethel's wrist. John disapproves of Reed, and warns Ethel against him, but she will not listen, and when John becomes angry and denounces her engagement, she elopes and goes to the city with Reed. At the end of six months he deserts her. Overcome with shame and torture she goes back to her village home, and falls dying upon the porch. John finds her there. She tells him of her betrayal and desertion, and over her dead body swears vengeance. Reed meets Mary Clarke, and becomes engaged to her. John happens to see a newspaper account of the ball to be given in honor of the engagement. This is the first clue as to the whereabouts of Reed, and he at once goes to the city. Seeks out the house in which the ball is to be given and finds Reed alone on the balcony outside of the conservatory, where he has just had a quarrel with Mary for dancing with her former sweetheart. Reed is found dead with a revolver lying beside him. Suicide is suspected, and Mary takes the blame to herself. Declaring that Reed killed himself on account of their quarrel. Overcome with grief and remorse, she later seeks the quietude of the fishing village. In a fit of despondence she attempts to commit suicide by throwing herself into the water, but is rescued by John. He falls in love with her, and proposes, but she tells him that the memory of the man who gave her the bracelet that she wears must ever stand between her and any other man. John recognizes the bracelet as the same one that Reed had given to Ethel, and he tells Mary of Reed's real character and his betrayal of Ethel. In the light of this revelation Mary accepts the love of John, and the bracelet, the cause of sorrow, is cast into the sea.
- The president of an Australian detective agency offers the services of their best man Henry King to the southwest coast police of California, who have been baffled by the many daring crimes committed by a gang of the underworld. Mr. King arrives in America, and upon the day of his arrival the most daring crime ever heard of is committed. Miss Dorothy Stevens is kidnapped in broad daylight in her automobile. The chauffeur was found drugged in an alley. Mr. King decides not to report this crime to the police, as to be seen with them might hinder him in his work, so he starts on the case alone. He spots his man, "Smiley Randel," holds him up, and thereby gaining his confidence, joins the gang as a first-class hold-up man. When he has located Miss Stevens, and about to get her away, Madge Burke does a clever piece of work and upsets his plans. He is bound and thrown into a room but upon rolling toward the door overhears the plans of the gang, namely, to leave the port on the schooner Blanche that night. He finds a mirror, and by throwing a mirror into a policeman's eyes, attracts his attention and gets him to come to the window. Writes a note, drops it down to him, thereby telling him of their plans, and to have a police-boat at the end of pier 21 and to watch out for the Blanche. That night he succeeds in freeing himself out of the room. He swims across the bay secrets himself on the Blanche before the gang arrive. As the Blanche is making her way out of the harbor the police boat starts in pursuit and a battle ensues. Detective King takes Miss Stevens in his arms and jumps overboard. They are in turn picked up by the police boat and capture the fugitives. Miss Stevens is greatly surprised the next day by receiving a call from Detective King, of Australia, who proves to be the man who aided her in her escape and whom she thought was a member of the gang. After a short conversation with Miss Stevens, Mr. King decides to cancel his passage back to Australia, and remains in America indefinitely.
- Tom Randolph, on the day of his engagement to Agnes Thorne, a beautiful Southern girl, stops his horse on the road near a gypsy camp, long enough to interfere with The Wolf, king of the gypsies, who is beating his daughter, Cynthia. Tom rides on to the Thorne mansion, little suspecting that he is being followed by a gypsy spy sent by The Wolf. While he is there a gypsy boy (not the spy), is caught by Major Thorne, poaching on his estate, and Tom comes to the boy's rescue in time to save him from a beating. That night The Wolf tries to waylay Tom and kill him, but Cynthia saves Tom by cutting the rope which the gypsies have tied across the road to throw Tom from his horse. Sometime later, at the engagement party given by Major Thorne in honor of his sister's engagement to Tom, Cynthia warns Tom of his danger from her father. Thorne partly overhears, and suspects an affair between his prospective brother-in-law and the gypsy. Thinking an insult has been placed on his family, he breaks the engagement, slaps Tom's face, and challenges him to a duel. The next morning during the duel Tom fires in the air, rather than kill the brother of the girl he loves, but Pedro, the gypsy boy, whom Tom has saved from a beating, hides near the spot, shoots from the underbrush, killing Thorne, the shots being simultaneous. Tom sees his opponent fall and is unable to account for it. Before he dies, Thorne accuses Tom of shooting him in the back, and Tom is arrested and accused of the murder. At the trial, when the case is going on against Tom, Pedro, in the gypsies' camp, basked by his guilty conscience, confesses to his sister that he killed Thorne. Cynthia overhears his confession, and drags him to court. The prosecuting attorney gets a confession from the frightened boy. Meanwhile Bess, the boy's sister, seeing affairs against her brother, hurries to the gypsy camp, gallops back with a horse that she leads under the courtroom window, rushes into the courtroom, throws her arms around the boy, whispers into his ear, quickly turns, engages the judge's attention, when suddenly the boy leaps to the jury rail, through the closed window below. Pandemonium reigns, the sheriff rushes to the window in time to see the boy disappear in the distance. Tom is acquitted and Agnes comes to his arms, while Cynthia, the martyr, goes back to her tribe, to bear the scorn of her own people for loving above her station.
- Loco Juan, a peon wood chopper who is afflicted, is befriended by Carmencita, the flower girl, when he incurs the ill favor of Senor Dominguez at the Cantina El Toro. Juan, through his appreciation of his heroine, is inspired with the thought of love, and falling asleep in the wildwood, dreams that a kind fairy transforms him into a dashing hero. Juan, in his newly attained manhood, foils the attempt of Senor Dominguez to abduct Carmencita, who has in the meantime accepted him as her betrothed. And aided by the vision of the good fairy overpowers Dominguez and his accomplice Sanchez the bandit in a spectacular knife fight. He triumphantly carries Carmencita away. But when she, enthused by his description of the good fairy who floats in and out of his adventures at opportune moments, takes the magic bracelet from his arm, the spell is broken, and Juan awakes from his dream, still the half-witted wood chopper lying under the sun-flower in the wild-wood.
- Edwin Tremayne and his brother Hal live with their widowed mother in a pretty home beside the seashore. The young men are in love with Neva, the daughter of a widow residing near the Tremayne home. Neva finally decides to become the betrothed of Edwin, and when she announces her decision, Hal becomes embittered and forsakes the village, going to a city where he obtains work in a fashionable hotel as bellboy. His youth and good looks win the admiration of one of the hotel guests, Miss Ruth Grant, a handsome young woman of wealth. Ruth professes love for Hal, and they marry. In the meantime, Edwin and Neva have been joined in marriage. Hal and Ruth send an invitation to Edwin and Neva to come to the city and visit them. When Edwin and Neva arrive at Hal's home they admire a $10,000 necklace worn by Ruth. Edwin and Neva then decide to make their home in the city and rent a house, which they occupy. Hal and Ruth give a masque ball, and Neva obtains from Ruth the loan of her necklace to wear at the ball. A gang of robbers read of the forthcoming ball and decide to attend in masquerade costumes. The gang leader manages to steal the necklace from Neva during the dancing. Edwin and Neva fear to tell Hall and Ruth of the theft, and fearing condemnation, they buy a similarly-appearing necklace worth $10,000 from a jeweler on credit, signing a contract to pay $1,000 a year. This substitute necklace is given to Hal and Ruth. For ten years Edwin and Neva toil from early until late to earn the money to pay the jeweler, undergoing great privations. When they make the final payment the truth of the substitution is revealed to Hal and Ruth, and the latter then tell Edwin and Neva that the original stolen necklace was only a string of paste imitation gems.
- Muriel Yorke has a fond husband, but he is so absorbed in his duties as head of the detective bureau that he has little time to devote to his wife. He is inattentive, not intentionally, but the fact remains that all of Muriel's pretty arts designed to distract him from his work are in vain. Time hangs heavily on her hands; she takes her meals alone, and gradually sinks into a state of melancholy. One evening while in search of recreation, Muriel visits a fashionable café unattended, and there meets Eric Le Blanc, a gentleman in manners, but in reality the chief of a band of international conspirators. He introduces himself as the Baron de Corril and Muriel keeps her identity a secret. Their friendship soon ripens into love, but Yorke is so deeply absorbed in his duties that he fails to notice the change that has come over his wife. In the interim, Le Blanc receives secret information from one of his spies that inspector Yorke has in his possession a description of every member of the gang and Le Blanc is urged to obtain possession of these at once. This he undertakes to accomplish and breaks into Yorke' s house on the same evening. During his search for the incriminating evidence, he comes face to face with Muriel, and for the first time learns her identity. He hides the real purpose of his visit to the house and explains that love had prompted him to follow her from the museum, at which they earlier had held a rendezvous. She aids him to escape, but in the meantime inspector Yorke has been attracted by strange noises in the house and makes an investigation. He enters his wife's bedroom and finding her apparently asleep, continues his search. He finds finger prints on the door and later identifies them as those of Le Blanc, the conspirator. When Muriel learns that her husband is preparing to raid on the apartment of the conspirator, she hesitates between love and duty and finally decides to warn her lover of his danger. She hastens to his apartments and implores him to escape while there is yet time. She points out that they may both leave the place without being seen, but Le Blanc refuses, and prates that her love has made him a better man, and that he proposes to accept punishment for his crimes and then lead a better life. In the meantime Yorke has obtained proof of his wife's perfidy, and with two detectives breaks into Le Blanc's apartments. Standing in the center of the drawing-room is the guilty pair awaiting the blow that is about to fall. Inspector Yorke glares scornfully at his wife for a few seconds; then challenges Le Blanc and orders his arrest. As the detectives are taking him from the room Muriel makes a move as if to rescue him, but Yorke grasps her by the wrists, and. after burning her soul with his reproaches, casts her aside as an object unworthy. She is left to her own conscience.
- Little Sunbeam, an orphan, was adopted by her uncle at a very young age, and as he was a leader of a gang of thieves and outlaws, he kept her sex a secret from the gang, and dressed Sunbeam in boys' clothes and called her Jack. This story takes up "Jack" at the age of 14. Dan Morau, a wealthy lumberman, returning from a trip of inspection of his forest reserves, stops for shelter at Uncle Bill's. Little Jack makes things very comfortable for the handsome stranger. Little Jack climbs up the ladder to her attic bed. Moran decides to retire to his room for the night, but in the presence of the gang displays a priceless watch and chain. After Moran has retired to his room, the gang plans to rob Moran. Little Jack, from the attic above, hears their plans, climbs out of her window, and warns Moran. While he dresses, she goes to the barn and fetches his horse, and Moran makes his escape. Little Jack, knowing the fate she would suffer at the hands of Bill when the flight of Moran would be discovered, decides never to return to the house of crime, and strikes out for the unknown. In the morning she finds herself near a railroad track. At a watering tank nearby, she gets into a freight car and steals a ride. At the end of the trip she finds herself in a great city. Getting out of the car and out of the yards, she sees a couple of hobos camping, and goes up to them. They, of course, think her a boy. One night, one of these tramps proposes to rob a nearby lumber mill office. They make little Jack climb through a window to open the door for them, but is shot by the night watchman, and the gang make their getaway. Jack is taken to a hospital for treatment. The next morning, Dan Moran is told of the attempted robbery of his office, and goes to the hospital to see the little burglar. The nurse has discovered that Jack is a girl and curls her hair and fixes her up. Moran is surprised to find this beautiful girl and the little "Jack," who saved him from the thieves one and the same kid. Moran's mother adopts the child and educates her, and they make a happy family. Now Moran's elder partner. Fox, sees a chance of acquiring the entire business for himself. He goes to the office one night to carry out his ideas, and is surprised by the night watchman, and to protect his secret he shoots the watchman. Moran, passing by, has seen the light in his office and heard the shot, and rushes into the office, finds the dead man, and calls up the police. Fox fastens the crime onto Moran, and Moran is placed under arrest. Sunbeam calls on Moran at the jail, and he tells her his suspicion of Fox. Sunbeam remembers how she deceived people in her dress as a boy, so dressed as an office boy, she applies for and gets the position of office boy in the lumber office of Moran and Fox. She gets enough opportunity to see how Fox changed and juggled figures, experts are called and Fox is shown up, and later confesses. Moran is released, and Sunbeam becomes mistress of the Moran home and lifelong partner of Dan Moran.
- A woman with a wild and impetuous spirit marries a lawyer, but soon finds married life, and the man she married, repugnant to her.
- Herbert Randolph, son of a well-to-do country clergyman, becomes engaged to Matilda Rankin, prim, homely, prudish young woman of his home town. He has proposed to her more to gratify his parents than because of any real love for her. His ambition is to be an author. He finishes his first novel and carries the manuscript to the city to a publisher. The editor of the publishing house to which he first submits it turns it back, telling him that his characters lack reality and naturalness, and calling special attention to a passage in which he portrays the lover experiencing his first thrill of love by kissing the heroine on the forehead, which is the limit of Herbert's own experience. Jane Conway, a reader in the publisher's office, has seen Herbert and becomes interested in him, believing that he has talent. She takes it upon herself to call upon him and offers to assist him in revising his novel, and he very gratefully accepts her assistance. She learns of his engagement to Matilda, sees her picture, and realizes not only that Herbert does not love her, but that with such a woman for a wife he can never hope to succeed in a literary career. Matilda and her mother come to the city, and Jane determines for Herbert's sake to break the engagement. Jane has an apartment below that of Herbert's in the same house, and while he is out one evening with Matilda and her mother, she gets into his room and places cards, chips, wine bottles and a pair of her gloves and slippers about the room. Herbert brings Matilda and her mother back to his apartment for some refreshments, after their evening's outing, and the two woman discover the suspicious evidence of a gay life that Jane has placed in the room. The two prim women are shocked. Matilda, ignoring Herbert's protestations of innocence, gives him back his ring and she and her mother depart in great indignation. Jane, who has been watching the scene outside the French window, falls into the room. Herbert accuses her of the plot, and she admits it, much to Herbert's amazement. Later she comes back for her things, finds him on the couch, and kisses him, and runs out. Herbert has been sensibly falling in love with Jane and this kiss in his sleep awakens him to the full realization of his feelings, and under this inspiration he revises his story and does it so well that it is promptly accepted. Jane in the meantime, fearing that she has gone too far and that she has offended Herbert, makes it a point to avoid meeting him, not realizing that he has fallen in love with her as she has with him. When he receives the letter from the publisher telling him of his acceptance of his manuscript, he takes it to Jane to thank her for her share in the good luck. He finds her asleep in a chair, and kisses her, thus revealing to her his love for her.
- Hardin, a young banker, entertains his rich friends with an elaborate lawn party. During the festivities they hear the strains of the street singers music from over the garden wall; they call the players in, a performance is given. Harding is infatuated with the youngest Italian dancer; he serves them with refreshments, attending to the girl himself. They leave. Some time later, while riding in a taxi, he sees the street dancers again performing upon the street; he mingles with the crowd watching them. He takes out a card and writes upon it. When the young girl comes with her tambourine, he drops the note into it and disappears into the crowd. The note asks for a meeting in his garden that evening. She goes to him; he makes love to her. and she takes it as an insult, but he asks her to marry him. They marry. Six months later he gives a big ball in her honor. She has ordered an exquisite gown to represent Night. He pleads with her to put on the street singer's dress. She does so. At the ball she sees him kiss a masked blonde. She plans revenge, changes her mind and rushes sobbing upstairs to her boudoir. She packs her things and leaves while the ball is still in progress. She sails to London and meets a band of street singers on the street. She joins them. Later a grand opera manager passes, and is struck by her beautiful voice. He gives her his card. The next day she goes to his office and signs the contract offered her. Four years later as a great diva she gives a concert in America. The young banker attends the concert and recognizes her. She leaves the stage trembling. Hardin comes to her dressing room and pleads for her to return. She refuses haughtily. She regrets the decision, however, and hastily dons a simple gown. Next scenes shows the evening in the garden. Hardin sits bowed upon a seat among the flowers. Louisiana comes to him. They are reconciled. She takes her wedding ring from a chain around her neck. He puts it on her finger and kisses her.