The Horry herald. (Conway, S.C.) 1886-1923, November 23, 1916, Page SIX, Image 6
?I1
QLDD
^jvcI Firs. ]
Novelized from the J
Picture Play of the
name by George Kleir
CV>p)nflti, |9|t>, br Ad?U>4c M H?tk?
SYNOPSIS.
Plerpont Stafford, with Ids daughter i
Gloria, is wintering at Palm Beach. Becoming
lost in the everglades Gloria fall;? |
into tlie hands of the Seminole Indians. !
she falls in love with her rescuer, Fre- I
iieau. Five years later she leaves school
and meets Freneuu at tlie theater; he has
ft ruoilun Gloria. I.atcr Kreneau ns r
suadcs her to forgive him. Gloria's sister-in-law.
Rols, becomes intensely jealous
and Doctor Royce discovers in her
nn ally. Freneuu tukes leave of Gloria.
Ethe sees from her window an attack made
upon him. Doctor Royee convinces her it
is delirium. She accidcntly sees the supposed
suicide of Freneuu reported in the
paper Gloria swears to find the murderer.
Gloria insists in going to I'aim
Bnach. She is recognized by her o'to'iine
captor, tlie young Indian chief, lie
tells her that Royce and not Freneuu was
her rescuer at that time. Gloria attends
night court", she sees Mulry there, also]
the tramp who attacked Freneuu. Rut ,
Judge Freeman releases him. She follow.,
the tramp when he leaves court. She finds
herself in a low saloon dance hall, and is
selected by one of the patrons as Ids partner.
Doctor Royce, however, follows her
and when he attempts a rescue, e .Its
down a riot on their heads. The hull is
raided and the crowd, including Gloria
and Royce, is arrested and taken beto e
Judge Freeman. Cm imir arrives with the
child Gloria promised to adopt. She orders
Royce to take Cusimir's wife to the
Stafford home. She follows Trask ami
lands on a. houseboat to heir him a'CU: e 1
ol Frenenu's murder. She ? onfronts him;
he imprisons her, but she tics him up and
escapes. In the yacht Gloria and the nu n
pursue the barge. In the light that follows
Trask is badly wounded, lie is taken
to the Stafford homo. Royce endeavors
to return to Lois her letters lo t
Freneuu. During a playful scuffle Glori
sees and recognizes the envelope. Sho I
suspects Royce of complicity in the mur- '
/!?.. Inll.. \ -.11 l>l
ui.i . j vvi.m- icun nri till. 0110 SCCS 011C (1 |
Lois' letters t<> Freneau. Judge Free-1
man confesses his part. When Lois is |
confronted .she floes from Gloria intent ;
on suicide. But Gloria races s\fier her ;
and prevents her from committing tiedeed.
She then returns the letters to 1
Lois and forgives her. Thinking that Pa-)
vid is the one responsible for Freneau's |
death, she takes him aside to confront ,
Trask. But Trask has been spirited away I
by Judge Freeman who believes as Glo- i
ria does.
TWENTIETH EPISODE
'V .
Love's Reward
The mystery of mysteries, the mvs- j
tery that envelops every other, is the 1
mystery of life ami its negative, death.
Plerpont Stafford had given his daughter
tlloria what the penniless Trask
had given his daughter Nell, life, the i
same all beginning, all necessary gift
of Judge Freeman to his daughter
Lois.
Through the existences of those
three daughters Richard Freneau had
wandered like a handsome Don .1 nan.
wrapping each in romance and grief,
us in a crimson cloak with a black
lining. At I'alin Reach lie had flirted
with Lois Freeman and won the child
heart of Gloria Stafford. Gloria's father
laid wisely snatched her away'
from his spell and sent her to school
for live years before she should enter
the school of life.
In that long interlude Dick Freneau's
frivolous heart h:. gone hutterllying
hither and yon. in his humbler days
:?t ' ' < - W
He Talked Very Earnestly.
an a broker's clerk he met Nell Trask,
whose pretty face was her only fortune,
and the cause of her misfortune.
Freneau had dealt sacrilege to the
power^of life and left Nell broken
hearted with no wedding ring.
In his luter prosperity as a winner
and loser of fortunes he had forgotten
Nell and turned to more gorgeous creatures,
such as Lois. Her he had won
away from the sacraments of her wedding
ring. And then Gloria drifted
hack into his life like a white dove,
and he felt that he had never loved till
now. What the result of such a union
might have been no one was ever to
know, for Gloria fell ill, and merely
to breathe became the one great problem
with her.
m t
v^CEPerhaps
the torments of pain ami
the terrors of delirium she underwent
in that long battle were less than the
pangs she would have had to endure
as the wife of Freneau, for he had all
the graces and none of the severities
of character. Gloria had known only
his charms when she saw him murdered
before her window. She had a
long battle to persuade her people that
she even saw the deed. Iter doctor,!
Stephen Royee, persisted in declaring
that what she witnessed was the ticlion
of her imagination.
With great ditliculty she had learned
a few truths. Site had overtaken
Trask only to he told that she had better
let him go since his confession
would involve her brother David. She
had refused to believe that David had
taken justice into his own hands, and
like tut ancient Indian hired a brave
to assassinate his enemy. Trask alone
could clear David of that charge or
fasten it on him. And Trask had vanished.
Doctor Koyce hud done all ho could
to lvl't'H (Iliirin I Vi I'll /lini'/iinir tlx.
. ~ ..x ? r .?? J I "i.? Jfiv i VI III VJ > V~J I
about the crime. But now that site had
leaned a part of Freuoau's duplicity,
he was ready to help her learn till the
truth, lie was eager to know it himself.
When she told hint that Trash had
been carried off. he said: "They can't
carry him far without hilling him. He
is doomed anyway, I'm afraid. We
must tind him soon or there will be
nothing to liud."
lie spohe a truth that Trash himself
was beginning to realize. The human
frame is not built to serve as a buffer
between yachts and barges, and
Trash's frame was wreehed within bis
llesii by bis accident. His fear of justice
bad made bint consent to the effort
to escape from the Stafford house,
hut the judge's automobile had not
gone far when he was compelled to
beg that it run more slowly. Finally it
grew plain to him that he was about
to escape from earthly judgment and
punishment altogether. He had nothing
to fear from the police or the wear
ers of che black robe. He began to fear
the more what higher courts awaited
him. lie dared not enter those tribunals
with a burden on his soul.
Suddenly he felt that Gloria, who
had been his tormentor and his enemy,
was one person on earth who could
give him comfort. lie began to
cry out that he wanted to be taken
back to her. .Ted and Nell and the
ehuutTeur thought him mad, but they
were afraid of him. lie held the uncanny
weapon of the power to die
"He'll be dying on us," the chauffeur
said, as he checked the car and begun
to turn it round. He had a superstitious
fear of thwarting a man's last
wish. He was not afraid of anything
else, but he was in a panic lest Trask
should die in his car. He paid little
heed to Trask's groans and made all
speed to the Stafford home.
Uoyce had just taken Gloria into his
car to set forth on a hunt for Trask
when Judge Freeman's motor brought
him back. Judge Freeman saw the
meeting and he was covered with
chagrin. He saw that Gloria recognized
his chauffeur, and she threw him
a look of reproach, hut she was too
much absorbed in Trask's needs to re
prouch him.
To (ilorin's astonishment, when
Trask was lifted from the car he did
not glare at her, but put his hand out
to her.
"He's got a lot he wants to tell you,"
Nell explained.
Uoyee motioned for one of the reclining
chairs to he brought from tho
sun parlor and Trask was placed in it.
When they started to take hint into the
house, however, he shook his head and
moaned: "No, no; leave me out under
the sky over where there's dowers."
It is strange how the suffering of an
enemy pleads and prays for him.
(Gloria was distracted with sympathy
for Trask, and her heart ached for
hint as for an old friend in distress.
She had the servants carry him to a
llower-walled nook where the breeze
was spicy and there was shade without
gloom.
.Judge freeman watched the group
(iiicl an Idea came to him. He stepped
into the house and motioned to IMorpont
Stafford's secretary to bring his
note pad and pencils.
j "Is it a dictation?" the secretary
; asked.
"Yes," said tlie Judge, "but it's be(
yond mine. It's possibly the final
statement of a dying man and it may
! have legal importance."
lie led the secretary back of the
I arbor, where he could hear without
being seen. The secretary did not
| relish such eavesdropping, but the
i judge kept him to the work.
There was some delay in making
| Trusk as easy as possible, and Koyco
THE HORRY HEF
?eut for his medicine ease thut he
might keep him from a sudden collapse.
Trask grew impatient with the
delay and clutched at Gloria, mumbling:
"listen, missy; 1 dou't know
ylt Jest who you air, but I got a notion
you got a right to know what 1
"
know about that yellow dog Frenctiu."
Gloria winced at the insult to her:
dead lover, but site made 110 protest.
Trask held her with lean lingers that '
hurt as he dragged her close,
"You said you seen me kill that man. j
What was he to you?"
Gloria flushed as she sighed: "I
loved him. NVe were engaged to be
married."
Trask chuckled gruesoinely. "I
thought likely. I guess 1 done you a
service giltin* rhl of lihn. He was engaged
to iuy girl tirst, missy. lie
promised to marry her. He told me he
was goin' to marry her and he allowed
he'd come right back. But he never
did.
"You see, I used to be at bnrgeninn,
but my wife?Nell's mai?got lung
trouble and the doctor said I had ought
to take her to South Cu'lina or some- ;
wheres. So I did. I took to lninln' i
down there?found some zinc. New i
York brokers got IntTested, sent a
young feller named Freneaiu down to
look over the prop'ty.
"He wais there when Nell fetched'
rne my dinner pail, lie took quite ai
shine to her?hung 'round for several
days, l-'oor girl, plumb crazy over him.
She hadn't saw many fellers and he
wus a killer anywhere he went, I. guess.
"I kotehed him with his arm 'round
Noll and 1 was pun' to heat him up.
Wlsht 1 had. But he says they were
engaged. So I wished 'mn well, Noll
boin' happy as all got out. Thou he
gets a telegram to go hack to the city.
Ho ne\er comes hack, never writes.
Seemed like Noll took oil inore'n she'd
ought to, and by and by I know why.
"ller maw didn't get any hotter and
she died down there?died before she
kniiwod what had happened to the
girl. Iluvin' my wife die and after
"Leave Her to Me, Miss, She Belongs
to Me."
i
wards bavin* Noll goin' crazy with
shame tit not boin' nobody's wifo drove
mo out of my senses kind of. I never
boon quite right since.
"I get over boin' nuid at Noll, and
we conio away front there before the
things got worse. I took up the barge
business again and didn't have much
time for lookin' up Mister Kreneau.
When 1 found him by accident it was
outside your house in the city. I
jumped for him and he hit me. I
chased his automobile and got ruiv over
by another one. Went to the hospital.
Come out a mite wronger than what I
went in. I guess.
"Nell told me she'd found where lie
lived and she'd went to se<? him, took
the baby with her. hogged him to love
nor again, or leastways I ? marry her
for the baby's sake. But no, ho
wouldn't, lie jest laughed at her :in< 1
tohi 1??t to go on away.
"When she told me that, my head
kind of filled up with poison. I didn't
want anything hut that feller's life.
I put out after him and always jest
missed him. That night I followed i
him to your house, seen him go in !
there, and I waited for him. A police- '
man chased me away and he must '
have went away without my seein'
him, for I crop' hack to that big monument
to watch for him. lie didn't
come out, hut I waited. By and by I
seen somebody eotnin' up Riverside
drive. It was him. 1 thought I must
a went crazy. I guess I had. But I
' waited for him. He stopped and lighted
a match to light a cigarette with.
?... J T ' -
iiiiu i nop up i)c111ut tiltn and got a
grand holt on his neck with these old
ten fingers and?"
His great crooked fingers made a
feeble repetition of their work, and
Gloria covered her eyes. Trask
laughed.
"1 s'pose I'd ought to feel sorry, and
1 do, now that I've got to go where he's ;
, went. But. it felt mighty good then to
know he wasn't goin' to break any
more hearts or fool any more girls.
| "I left him lay there In the snow and
I got away fust as I could. Next day
I I expected to see a big holler in the pai
pers. Not a word. A hull week passed
and not u word. 1 felt creepy about it.
1
'.A IDC OOWWAT, 8. O.
Thon I road about him beln* fobnd
down In the bay and I couldn't understand.
I been driven ueur out o* my
senses try in' to tigger out how he got
there."
The secretary In hiding wondered,
too. but the judge kept silence and so
did Cloriu on her side of the ilowor
screen.
Dloria was not concerned about
Trask *s bewilderment. She was staring
at the little baby that Nell carried always
in her arm. Her last spark of
love for Freneuu died out in her soul, '
leaving it utterly dark. There was not
enough embers left to Hare with jealousy.
She was restless to have done
with Freneuu forever.
When Trask appealed for her for- >
giveness if he had cuused her any pain. *
she gave it freely. Her bitter heart :
felt that Trask had done a cleansing
task in removing Freneuu from the
earth.
Trask sank back exhausted and his '
hand relaxed its hold on her. Then !
she left him to the ministrations of
Doctor ltoyce, who whispered to her
that she had better not linger to the
lust/ He sent her away. She went to i
her room in a loneliness more pro- ,
found than she had ever felt. She j
had not eveu a dead love for eompun- I
?....wl?l?. VI... ?l... ..I...*-.. I
liUMi UIIU m 'vi in i llll* IMIHIU* |
graph of Freneuu there and her lips
curled with disgust at the kisses she '
had .squandered on that worshiped
image.
In her wrath she broke it to pieces, j
ami laying the fragments in the empty 1
lireplace, set a match to them. She
watched them burn and tiling herself
across her bed weeping madly. She
wept herself to exhaustion and finally
to sleep, it was a troubled sleep with
a hideous vision of Freneau in infernal (
Humes that mounted about him as the i
Humes had danced around his photo- !
graph only they did not consume him.
He put his arms out to her through
the flumes, appealing l'oi pardon. She
heard him say: "Gloria, I had repented
of my evil ways and vowed to mend
them, but 1 was struck down before
1 could. Forgive me!"
She answered him harshly: "Ask
Nell, not me. Come back and undo
the evil you did."
He sighed: "If only I could. There
is only one evil that can be undone. I
stole your love from a man who loved
you before I did. and loves you still,
(live him your heart, tlloria. (live him
your heart, (lioria?tllo-ri-a!"
His voice died away as the vision
of him faded and she woke. She wept
again to think of the pity of life and
death and love, and her heart melted
a little toward Freneau.
She bathed her eyes and went out
into the hall. There she found Nell
Trask weeping incoiisoluhiy. Her father
was dead. Gloria took the girl
into her arms and tried to think of
consolations where there were none.
Her anger raged again at Freneau,
whose treacheries were to blame for i
everything. The man .Jed, hearing
Nell weep, came blundering into the
house and up the stairs and claimed
her from Gloria's arms, saying:
% ^
"Leave her to me. miss. She belongs to
me. She told me ail you heard today
a Ion# while ago. I love her just the
same, or more, maybe. And I'll take
good care of her and the baby. It's i
a nice baby; it ain't to blame. I'll i
take good care of the baby, miss, and
Nell, too."
Gloria surrendered the girl to him
and saw that Nell leaned heavily upon l
bis strong, encircling arms.
Gloria left them . ' "t and went i
down to the living room. There she
found Judge Freeman. The haggard11
ess seemed to have left his ancient
face. He spoke to her:
"I heard '.vhat Trask told you. I
never was so glad or so proud to be
proved wrong. I owe David a humble :
apology."
"Will you make it to ldm?"
"No, not for world. The most pro- j
found apologies we make to people are 1
the silent ones they never hear. I
< 0111(1 not apologize to David without
telling him what I apologized for, and
that I could never do. Lois is going
t<> l?e a good wife to him. She ought j
* b*ve her chance to build up their
J'u i together. Have you the heart to
their home to pieces now? Have
V/1'1 1 , -n id W
^ irir i i^ill
Gloria answered drearily: "T haven't
tin4 strength. That's about all I know."
She walked out upon the lawn where
the sunset was adding almost intolerable
beauty to the majesty of the river
and the Palisades. The vast old peaks,
like relentless judges, were being softened
into a tenderness by the soft
colors from the sky. Gloria sat down
on a bench before a softly plashing
fountain whose waters were made rosy
by the light, ltoyce found her there
and sat down by her. lie was tired
and very solemn with the last rites of
old Trask.
"Is your heart at peace at last,
GloriaV" he murmured.
"At peace, no!" she gasped. "It is
all in chaos."
"About Freneau, I mean."
"No, 1 hate him now?or at least I'm
trying to."
"Dou't hate him, Gloria. Don't hute
him."
"You ask Unit?*'
"Yes, for how was he to blame? He
was born what he was; he went the
way his nature drove him. He had litle
help from women except to he what
he was. lie paid a hideous price for
the wrong he did."
"Don't you hate him?"
"No."
"Or anybody?"
"No. Hate is not only unchristian,
Gloria, it's unscientific; it's ignorant.
Traak Tells
It comes only from tin inability or tin .
unwillingness to undcrsttitul. I ctin'l i
hour to think of your dear heart piv- (
tnp out siK'h poison as hatred implies." i
"You want me to love everybody,
then?"
"Yes."
"Including you?"
What more might have boon said
there was no tolling, for Aunt llortensia
enme hustling down the lawn with ;
a yantlerglh of committee lists an.!
tasks for (llorin. lWTore her tempest
of garrulity, Hoyce took (light, (iloria j
was kept on the run for days and !
nights. She worked as only rich wont- ;
on work when sonic orgy of charity
is on foot.
fIloria in turn kept everyone in hor
neighborhood scampering. Her father,
hor father's seereiary, hor brother and
his secretary, oven her brother's wife, i
she made use of.
Lois responded to the hash with an
enthusiasm that surprised (Iloria. She
la gan to understand that idleness had
been a more cogent exetise for frivoiiiy
than she had believed when Lois;
gave it. She saw that Lois' heart,
which had yielded too easily to the j
blandishments of Preneau, yielded sis ;
easily to the allurements of unselfish
labor.
The plans for the Polish fete were
.....I fill- ? I. ...
< Iiimp,?-Il Him H^tllll. lilt' OOY
Stas was so much in the way that
tiloria set 11i111 a task to keep Iiim out '
t>om under her feet. He brought in
iho children of the vicinage and established
himself as their lender.
Some of the rich tots, like their
parents, were good fellows; a few of
them woeful snobs. These latter twitted
Sins with his origin,. whereupon '
he had resort to the wild arbitrament
of battle, and two or three small j
bloody noses ruined two or three handsome
suits of clothes. After that Stas !
was the accepted lender.
in his researches among the picture
books he found a "I'ied IMper of I lain- ,
liu" and made his "Aunt fllorin" tell j
him all about it. He decided that she ,
should be the pied piper and he would i
organize an army of children for her
to pipe away. She kissed him for the i
inspiration and that event was one of
the successes of the afternoon. Mobs i
of people thronged the Stafford estate '
on the afternoon of the festival and
the roads outside were quadruply lined
with automobiles.
There was no hesitation about employing
piratical methods of extorting
from tin* rich as much money as they
had been reckless enough to bring with
them. The hollow eyes of the ragged
1 starvelings of Poland would have filled
with wonder if they could have seen
i in far-off America the well-fed, silk|
clad aristocrats reveling in their be- !
' half. It was a strange way of getting
1 food for the hungry, but it was the |
iusiiion 01 me (my, aim mosi nnporuuit
i of all, it accomplished its purpose.
The workl was so packed with
J tragedy and so hounded with cries foi
1 pity that it took Something more than
, sorrow to wheedle funds from the
i weary public. It took beauty and entertainment.
Gloria furnished these in
full measure at her festival. In her
! ragged doublet and hose, with her
1
I feathered cap atilt, she danced and
piped, and the children followed about
! the lawn with a moving audience till
she led her little army Into the great
cave that IMerpont had ordered cou'
Htrucled in one of his hills.
The mothers left behind pretended
to weep for their lost 6nes, and they
begged the pled piper to return. So
Gloria, contrary to tradition, came
hack from the cave, and, surrounded
j by her kidnaped troop, bowed and
! bowed.
Gloria was good and tired when the
last of the spectators. had gone hotne
! Impoverished. She stretched herself
out on the divan in the living room and
felt her old loneliness come back upon
her. Her task was done and she was of
1 no more use to the world, for, of
course, her father had pointed out to
her that her project to take the funds
to Poland in person was a beautiful
Impossibility. There were several million
soldiers between her and Poland,
? I "I WM'*1 '.I'JWHWWfMWMMMMMMMMMM
4
His Story. 9fl
and the price of the voyage, even if H
Die fct;K! iiiuko it, would huy severalII
thousands of loaves of hreud. I
She was In so l'ornni u humor tluit-.H
\\ h n Doctor hnyee u?uk a chair close [
to iter nimI poured forth his praises,
she aecepied them hungrily. He was A
encouraged to the wihiost hopes hy her/H
response' and he kept hunching his B
chair closer and closer. I
ilis head was ; h tost touching hers fH
whetl her father laid cone into the,?
room with the proceeds of the festival. I
There were baskets of bills and boxes fjfl
of colli and the total was thousands of. .?
lioyce fell back disheartened. He jB
hr.d forge;ten how richHloria was, and'fM
how poor in comparison was even his
success. He had been 0:1 the point of fl
telling her how long and how deeply he $jB
had loved her, lint he felt that suchujl
a declaration would only be n
sumptuous folly. l}M
(lioria could not road his thoughts, (fl
but she knew tlmt he bud suddenly
hilled and shortly after he was gone. B
And then she knew how much sbelB
missed him. She was tempted to lull !
ill again so that she might summon VI
him to wait upon her once more. Hut
her health, which had broken down fl
when she was in the first flush of her ,
affair with Freneau (for "affair" was '
what she called it now), held up splen* [
didly when she felt sick at heart and jfa
weary of life.
For some reason which he did not xvw
make plain?largely because his excuse
was artificial?Doctor Itoyce happened ^
to drop In at the country place a fcwtl
days later. The fact was that he could
neither endure the lack of Gloria nor j
lind a plausible reason for calling. So ) J
lie called and mumbled bis reason in-^?
articulately. jnfl
He talked very earnestly about noth-VW
jng at all ami kept saying that he must),?
go, bu! did not go. At length be really-iM
started, and Gloria felt that site was|,u|
being marooned once more on the dullaYfl
waste of life. So she pretended to^yfl
swoon. lie heard her little gasp and
saw her toppling over on n carefully
seloeti d soft spot. lie ran to her In fll
great alarm, tried her pulse and found il
it normal, chafed her hand and found Jj
it warm, lie was bewildered. Thet?
symptoms and the condition did not 1
jiho. i<y
Gloria opened on? ?ye nnd watchedH
him unbeknownst. Ho lot go her hand,*^j|
and walked the floor.
She sat. up in disgust, demanding.' I
"Don't you know what is tlie matter
with me?" .1
He shook his head meekly. fll
She cast Iter eyes up in despair nndi'fl
said: "I'm afraid you're too stupid a jjl
doctor to keep in the family. Good-*
by!" ffli
"In the family?" he stammered, won-fl|
Eif i,'
i 'i
|3frS*fr<y- \- :;. -. " -/>V >mtm I
"I Got a Good Hold on His Neckl*v\! jj
II ;
i[!
In}
A
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