Historical Newspapers of South Carolina

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?tx r M Novelized From the of the Same Name Copyright, 1916, by SYNOPSIS. J i* Plerpont Stafford, banker and railroad |BKgn&te, with his sixteen-year-old dough- ) ter, Gloria, is wintering at Palm Beach, | Gloria Is a vivacious, but willful young lady who chafes under the restraining hand of a governess from whom she repeatedly escapes. Her childish capers cause young Doctor Royce to fall In love with her. She steals from her room at night and In an auto -plunges into the urf where she leaves the car. Becoming lost In the everglades she falls into the ! hands of the Seminole Indians. She is1 nil III I i II il A WA* ti w?*n/l ? ? I. ? ?-t I vavuvu auu iciuiiiiui iu ncr muirr wuu had offered a reward for her returu. THIRD EPISODE Never before in all her luxurious froung life had Gloria encountered the lightest hardship. The most ex-! qulsite of the niceties of existence had been her3 as regularly as the breath he drew. So she had wearied of them nd rebelled. And now she had found that adventure was not altogether pleasant, either. A primeval Jungle Inhabited oy a primeval people was, to say the least, distinctly uncomfortable. Gloria felt it especially lucky that since she had to be rescued fate had been polite enough to select a goodlooking rescuer for her. The more she studied Mr. Freneau the better she liked him. He had a nice name,' uju?<x uiuu, imunauio name. The only fly in the ointment was the bad behavior of Dr. Royce. She had thought him charming. Rut now he ulked and moped. Dr. Royce was glum because he did not know Just what he ought to do. He was confronted with a duty that he could not solve. It was like some obscure disease, hard to diagnosticate. ' To speak up and denounce Freneau as a liar and thief was impossible. Royce had 110 proof that Freneau had played either the cad or the coward. He knew only that Freneau must have seen him battling with the Indian, and 'n decent man would have come to .the assistance of a feilow white.' Even if Freneau had felt that he ought put Gloria 111 the boat first, he ' might have come back to help Royce. i But Freneau had left Royce to his, -ftdte. That was ugly. Royce heard Pierpont Stafford sav to FVeheau: "My boy, you've earned the |5,000 reward offered. You've earned a million dollars!" j>ow uoyce ieit tnnt ne understood. Freneau had been coaxed into the everglades by that $5,000 lottery prize. He had won it; and it looked as if Freneau were expecting to win Gloria's iove in the bargain. For Gloria was simply devouring him with her eyes. Royce knew little about Freneau, and that little was not to his advantage. Freneau neglected his office, but neglected no opportunity for a love aiYair. D" Itoyce had come to Palm Beach as the private physician ot old Judge Freeman, and he had . ! She Graduated" All Alone In Mid winxer. abundant opportunity to see the influence ot Freueau on *the Judge's daughter, Lois. It was not a wholesome influence. ****? On the long ride back to Palm Beach they par sed the spot where Gloria had left her brother's racing car in the ocean. They paused to look at it Several men and a team of mulea were struggling to drag it out of the water. When they reached the Royai Poinciana Gloria passed through a throng ?mm5 ilTO HUGHES' Motion Picture Play by George Kleine Adelaide M. Hughea 01 welcoming friends, una Freneau received congratulations innumerable. Royce sneaked off to his room and plunged into a hot bath, treated his wounds as best he could, shaved, and put on frosh clothes. Then he strolled out to order a new evening dress in a hurry from a Palm Beach tailor. He met Freneau, carrying his honors Jauntily. Royce went to him and held him skowered with his eyes as he said: "Ivook here, Freneau. haven't you a little something to say to me?" Freneau colored a trifle, but he stared back at Royce without discomfort and he laughed no less easily than usual ' TVV, "1 A 'LI- - " - * V ii ?i.? , in/, win in2111 ; mmiing tnai l know of?except that I suppose I ought to feel sorry that you arrived to) late. But I can't feel sorry, i didn't even know you were there." Royce glared at him, then laughed harshly and said: "The diagnosis in vour case is clear. You are hopelessly infected with yellow fever; but you are Immune to all honorable sentiments. I>on't lose your head, though; and don't try any of your tricks on little Gloria Stafford." Frenciu laughed again, a more ugly laugh (his time. "That seems to me to be Miss Stafford's business, and certainly none of yours. "I'm going to make it mine," said Rovce. W ? After Gloria had enjoyed all the redeeming influences of a tub. and a shampoo and fine linen and a silk frock, she found that her interest in Mr. Freneau was as keen as ever. She even felt grateful to Lois Freeman for flirting with David. She sat out on the led50 ot the veranda and daydreamed. When her father sauntered by and o ol/nH b -A, /s A - - 1 - iici *> imi ant; wtttt up M) alio answered: "O. nothing! I'm Just basking in the sun.'' But when Pierpont rnme by that way a little later he found Dick Freneau basking in Gloria's most bewitching smile. Thov were Romeo and Juliet at Palm Peach, separated only by a low wall and a clump of rhododendrons. And Romeo was reaching across that with his walking stick. It was the first time Pierpont had seen his child in a flirtation. lie did not like her in that employment. Ho took her by the ear and led her away. She protested at the indignity. Pierpont let go her ear. He had always been afraid of her and unable to manage her. Ho was not afraid of Freneau, however. He went for him at once. He was about to begin with a stout. "How dare you speak to my daughter?" He paused, feeling that without Freneau's help he might have no daughter to be spoken to. Pierpont was used to accomplishing bis ends with the weapon of the check book. He drew the weapon now and a fountain pen and said: "By the way, there's that reward. It will give me great pleasure to pay it over." He wrote after "Pay to the order of" trie name "Richard Freneau" and the amount "Five thousand and no-hundredths dollars?$5,000." Freneau's fingers twitched to clutch the fortune, hut his brain advised him to play for higher stakes. TTo put away the temptation with a proud smile. "It is reward enough to have been able to be of service to Miss Stafford." If Gloria had not. adored him before. that chivalrous speech would have won her. It quite disarmed Pierpont. With his check book ruled out, his best weapon was gone. But he blustered all the harder. "My daughter is a little girl. I won't have her fooling time away with you. She must get her education first. She ia hardly more thnn a child." "Oh. papa!" Gloria cried. Pierpont went on: "And she'fl going to school at once. We Btart north on the next train." "Then Mr. Froneau will como north, too. and we shall seo each other all wo want to. For we love each other, don't we, Mr. Freneau? Desperately! Don't we, Mr. Freneau?' Mr. Freneau's answer was blurred. Pierpont studied the two young peo! pie. He had his own opinion of Freneau. It was formed on brief acquaintance, but he was a judge of men. "You love each other, eh? Desperately, too? Well, well! Now, look here," he said, after a quick balancing ot his mind, "of course you both know that Gloria is too young for marriage. She must prepare herself for the solemn responsibilities of life and graduate at a good finishing school. Now, if you will wait, and THE HOREY HERi not see each other or write to each other, till then, and it you still love each other then, I will not oppose your marriage. I'll do all I can to make you happy. Is it a bargain?" Freneau had not the courage to re fuse the demand in the cold eyes oi the millionaire. To be accepted as his son-in-law at any time was a marvelous promise. He hastened to give his own in exchange for it. When he had promised there was nothing left for Gloria to do but promise also. "For Ave years, then,' said Pierpont grimly, "you promise not to bother each other or speak or write?for five years " "I promise!" said Freneau quickly. "From tomorrow," said Gloria with equal grimness. "The train leaves very shortly," said Pierpont, and led her in to superintend the packing. Freneau walked away in a daze. Yesterday he was a broker's clerk. Today he was the son-in-law elect of one of the country's wealthiest men. What were five years to him? Five years sounded unimportant to Gloria, too, at the moment. She would love that young man forever. *** Five years is a long time, and many things can happen in the eighteen hundred odd days and nights. Freneau hated Royce, for we rarely like the people whoso property we i have stolen. Gloria was gone and Ivois was gone, but an attractive youth like Freneau j was not left alone in such multitudes ot women as gather at Palm Beach with no more serious purpose than escaping the cold drafts of the North and the torments of borodom in the South. He spent so much time gathering t the applause from fair women that when the season closed at Palm Beach i his firm gave him his full liberty. He had done nothing, they wrote, to encourage them to pay him further sal- ; or-ir Tin I, - -1 ~ '* -i- - ?*? t . i iKiu iu ir'ai iu piaces i where his fame had not reached?- I where he had only his winning personality as capital. He found no en rather hard to impress, but there was j always some woman foolish enough to believe in his beautiful eyes. Some of them were rich and some ' of them were as poor as poor Nell [ Trask, the daughter of Gideon Trask, a canal boat captain. He met her in a cheap hoarding house, where he paid his landlady nothing much except his promises and some extravagant com id i merits. He behaved very shabbily in his affair with Nell Trask. and deserted her cruelly because, at a critical time for iier. he got a tip on the market and sold it to a broker, who gave him a share of the proceeds. Ho wns so tired of poverty that he went to New York and anticipated his promise. Rut Gloria and her father j were abroad on a summer vacation, and Freneau was thrown on his own resources. lie flirted himself into an-i ;SSSfS fr^r -%..*u-"c MjJBM She Did Nothing IVlore Vicious Than and Then in other tip and sold that to a broker | named Frank Mulry. Mulry knew the value o? such a partner, and he encouraged Froneau j to learn from financiers' wives and 1 daughters what could not be learned otherwise. In the courso of time FYe-, neau made himself so important to I Mulry that he was taken into the firm as a silent partner. At length, through j a most confidential tip, ho got in as a i sort of stowaway in a piratical raid on the market and cleaned up so much money that Mulry was glad to i take him into full partnership as the senior member of the firm. When ho saw the legend, "Preneau & Mulry, stocks and bonds, members of tho stock exchange," on the door j and on tho letterheads Preneau felt 1 so important that he did not care i what Pierpont Stafford or his daughter thought of him. He was the young Napoleon. One of these days he would buy and sell Pierpont Stafford. His success enlarged his acquaintance, his attractiveness, and his temptations. He was on the crest of the wave when he met I^ois Freeman again. He was studying the diamond crop in a , Jeweler s window and wondering Just what peace offering he should buy for a certain person whom he had reni dered violently Jealous when who \ kLD, CONWAY, 8. 0. should step out of the shop but Lois Freeman! Each stared at the other with eyes ready for flirtation. Each recognized the other as a former Palm Beach comber. "Why, Mr. Freneaui" was Lois exclamation. Her language was not so brilliant as her eyes. "Why, Miss Freeman !' was his equally brilliant answer. The same thing was true of him. "But I'm no longer Miss Freeman," said she. "I'm still Mr. Freneau," said he. "I'm now Mrs. Stafford. ' . "Stafford? Stafford? The name sounds familiar," said Freneau. "Surely you haven't forgotten David Stafford, your old rival for my young affections?" "Of course not," said Freneau. "I've never forgiven him for cutting me out. How long have you been mar* ried?" "Oh, for an eternity?two years." "Really? You don't look it at all! But that's long enough for you to come and take tea with mo somewhere, isn't It?" "I suppose so. Anyway, I'm dead tired and in need of a pick-mo-up It's so stupid shopping all day. And my husband has already been married long enough to be quite frank about my extravagance. But what else is there for me? He is at the office all day; and he travels a good deal. He's ambitious to outdo his father in busi* ness." "So am I," said Freneau. They were buzzfng away mertify when they found seats in a tearoom where dancing was the main business, with tea as an excuse. Freneau did not even take tea. He was not particular about excuses. He urged I^ois to dance with him. But she saw several people she knew and she do rnnea. airo, sno supped away early. She knew enough to be elusive They met again, however, at a less conspicuous tearoom. Then she danced with him. And all this while Gloria was cherishing her ideal of Freneau and working hard to make herself worthy of him: And ner brother was cherish-, ing a trust in Lois and working hard to give her the luxuries she exacted with increasing greed. * o * * * ? Five years was a long timo for Gloria, too; but not so long a3 she told herself. Her girl soul did not feel the emotional demands of a grown woman. She could put Frenoau's picture on her nureau and find satisfaction in paying it worship. In the school she had discovered a new world. She fought her way to the captaincy of a basketball team as if it were the presidency of an Amazonian republic. She learned to fenco well and to box a little. She even took an interest in some of her text books. She thought she was very wicked, but she did nothing more vicious than hold a chafing dish orgy now and whHH - 1 1 1 i to Hold a Chafing-Dish Orgy Now Her Room. hen In her room. Gloria had few sorrows of importance, beyond the occasional disappointment her examination records Rave her. The chief of her disappointments was her brother's marriage to Lois. She never had liked IjoIb and had never understood her charm. Lois had taken little interest In winning the approval of women. Sho had played a part in winning even David's serious interest. She never cared for him, but she could not resist the wealth and prestige of his uiwn?. one was mueny disappointed | in him when after the honeymoon' was over he expressed his unwilling-1 ness to live on his father's money and vowed that he would earn his own way by his own energy. The life of travel and gayety that Lois had planned was taken from her. Gloria had a staunch little heart and she kept her word to her father. She kept faith, too, with her fiance five years removed. She fell into the habit of talking to his photograph. When she was tempted to forget that she was a solemnly betrothed young person she would find strength in his image to be austere and to deny herself many of the gayeties of the school or of her companions in the gorgeous resting places where she spent her vacations. V ^^HBE^^BBMl .. IhBBwhBbi ^ ^ ^ 's*"^ ^ ?^w <5flr v "J^iiiiL^' ^' w * 'x ? * ^H?W< - ^ "v > She Learned .1 It was a quaint and bitter irony that the eyes in Freneau's photograph should have had so pious an influence, while his own eyes were devoted to casting such evil spells. Unconsciously Lois revenged her husband on Freneau, for while Freheau was causing Lois to forget her duties to the partnership she had entered into with David Stafford her fas | dilations led Freneau to neglect his duties to his partnership with Frank 1 Mulry. He spent time and money 011 j Lois that should have been devoted to the intricate stratagems?not to say treasons and spoils?of Wall street He and Mulry in the flush of their early successes had spread out?had established branch offices in Albany, Buffalo. Cleveland. Detroit, Chicago, St. Louis and Pittsburgh. While the tide set their way these branches served as so many hands to gather in shekels. But when the hard times came upon the financial world they served as so many mouths to food. The office of Freneau & Mulry hecame one of those dismal placos where the pay roll is a weekly agony and where the watchword is "everything going out and nothing coming in.'' When Freneau at last awoke to realize that bankruptcy instead of plutocracy was likely to be his portion ho turned back to his work with a desperate energy And now Lois found that he was as fierce an office mnn as her husband. He had engagements when shr was lonely. She naturally imputed his neglect to some other charmer. She could not believe him guilty of overwork. She ' grew jealous and their meetings were stormy. She kept his telephone busy to make sure that he was at his desk. She began to annoy him. Ho wished to be rid of her, but she would not1 be jilted. It was during this crisis that Gloria marked off the last month of her five years ordeal. She was ambitious enough to go on and finish her course and get her diploma. She compressed her last year of schooling into half a year and graduated all alone in midwinter. She dashed into her room at college ior me last time, with her solemn mortarboard askew on her head, her somber black gown flying from her shoulders, and in her hand her parchment diploma (in I>atin that she could nearly translate). She looked like a little Portia for a moment. She threw her diploma In air and her mortarboard after it. She whipped off hei black robe and began to juggle school books, letting them fall where they fell. She danced a Jig over her scholarly past and made haste to pack her things and dart out to meet her future. "Future" was her spelling of "Freneau." The Journey to New York from school was as long as the journey to New York from Palm Peach had been years ago; only then sho had been traveling away from her romance, now toward it. When her father met her at the train she hugged him almost to suffocation, then asked him how dear Mr. Freneau was the last time he saw him. "The last time I saw dear Mr. Freneau was at Palm Peach," said Piorpont, who had almost forgotten hia name and had hoped that Gloria had forgotten it entirely. As soon as she reached the house on Riverside drive and embraced the old servants and shook hands with the new, Gloria took her father into his library and askod him for Mr. Freneau's telephone number. She had found "Freneau & Mulry" in the VtstrtV olrntxlv o n H oVia ooM ??? WWW 1% Mil VM\1/ J C*I1U Oil W t/v /uu suppose that that Mr. Mulry's Froneau is my Mr. Freneau?" "I don't know, I'm sure," Plerpont grumbled. "But It wouldn't be very correct to telephone a busy man, would It?" "I suppose not," Oloria admitted. "Where's a pen? I'll write him." "How long has It been since you wrote him last?" said Plerpont anxiously. "Why, Ft? never Written him at all," Gloria answered, shocked. "I promised, didn't I?' Plerpont kissed her brow with a profound pride. Then he ventured to say, "Don't you think It would be nicer if you waited for him to look you up?" Gloria gnawed the end of the pen " 1 II I JH ?;|:';H M PPfij^^Pp ::::: - '<^^1 ' " * i " ~J to Fence Well. bolder a moment, and then sighed \#ith all the impatience of youth in the shackles ot conventionality. "I suppose so." She flung down the pen and wondered how she could manage delicately to attract Mr. Freneau's attention without seeming to. "Ry the way," said Pierpont, "there's a big gala at the Metropolitan OpetH house tonight, a special benefit for some war reliet. Would* you like to go?' "You bet!" cried Gloria with schoolgirl elegance. . At about that time Preneau was just putting down the telephone in his of- \ flee. Lois had called him to say that nor husband was taking her to the benefit and she hoped that he would )l(> ttinro 01<n r.?~.-4l.l ' ? uw vuvi uiiu uuu nuiiitHlllllg 1II1-* portant to tell him. Everything sho had to tell him was immensely important nowadays to her?and immensely unimportant to him. The thing that agitated i,ois was her knowledge that Gloria had come back to New York and was stili in love with the memory oi Preneau. I>ois was in an anguish ot fear and jealousy and sho wanted to compet Freneau to swear that he would not forsake her for Gloria. Freneau was oblivious ot this, but he had no intention of keeping his promise to Ix>is till Mulry, who had overheard Freneau's end of the conversation, said: "Come along, i got stung for a couple of tickets. You can have one of them We might 1 meet somebody *vho might give us a j line on the market.'* i So the Komoollke T'-cneau went with his Falstafilan partner. They haunted the promenade of the boxholders, wishing to be seen in expensive company. Glancing over the balustrade, Freneau caught sight ot Lois mounting the stairs with her husband. She was looking for him, and he smiled back at her with stinted grace. He did not notice that on the other stairway of the big double zigzag Plerpont Stafford was coming up with a vision of young loveliness at his side. He did not know Gloria saw him. He did not Eee her clutch her father s arm and almost swoon with delight. He might have observed all this and still not have suspected who the girl J was, for the Gloria he had found in ' squaw costume in the everglades, the Gloria who had exchanged vows with 1 him on the veranda of the Poinciana, j the Gloria who had waved farewells to him from the receding train five years ago, had all hut receded from his memory. What recollection he had of her was of a little sixteen-yearold thing with her hair down her back and an air of almost childish lmma? turity. \ Thd Gloria who marched up the broad steps of the Metropolitan was a young lady of twenty, one with her [ hair up, her head full of knowledge, and her features changed as the bud is changed when it becomes a rose. Her costume was the latest thing from Paris, still Paris in spite of the war. Gloria could hardly climb the steps , to the level of Freneau. Her father ; did not know him, but she did. She I left her father's side and hurried to f. Freneau's. He did not hear her or know that sho was at his elbow, trembling with rapture and trying to keep from crying his name aloud and seiz- 4 lng him by the arm that had saved her from the Indians. She coughed and he did not hear. At last she ven- . i..-. % i? A - I iurea me terrinc deed of touching his sleeve with her finger tip. He turned , and she murmured: \ "Mr. Freneau, I bolleve?" He turned, saw that a most exquls- . ite creature had addressed him, won- \ ! dered who under the sun she was, lift- \ ed his hat, made a violent pretense at remembering her perfectly, having met her Just the day before, and ex- , claimed: "Why, hello! I'm so glad you got here." He put out his hand, but hers fell | away before he could clasp It. She had thrust her arm Into her father's elbow and hurried him along toward the door of their box while Freneau whirled and stared. Mulry stared, too. and muttered: "flood Lord, who's the new peach with old Plerpont?" "It must he his daughter; It's Gloria!'1 Freneau gasped. "His daughter! Do you know her?" "Know her!" Freneau laughed. "Well, rather! I'm engaged to her In a way." "Engaged In a way!'* Mulry repeat