- An adventurous young girl in Florida gets herself lost in the Everglades and finds terror and excitement, as well as the rivalry of two men in love with her.
- Demure-but-spunky Gloria Stafford, sister of David Stafford, and daughter of Pierpont Stafford, a wealthy banker, goes with them to Palm Beach for the winter. Gloria is sixteen and vivacious, bubbling over with fun and good spirits, and naturally resents the rules and regulations under which her governess would have her follow. However, she takes advantage of every chance to escape the governess' eye, and romps about like a tom-boy. Family friends Judge Freeman and his daughter, Lois, also arrive in Palm Beach, where Lois is being courted by Dr. Stephen Royce, who also pays a lot of attention to Gloria. Brother David thinks Lois is swell. Richard Freneau, a young broker, becomes acquainted with both families, and is soon a rival of David's for the swell Lois. Glora takes a night drive along the beach in David's new racing automobile and manages to drive it into the ocean, where it doesn't float. She escapes but loses her way when she attempts to walk home alone, and the dawn finds her wandering around in the Everglades. She has borrowed a suit of boy's clothes, as her wet gown was not suitable for Everglade exploring, and is found by some Seminole Indians. Freneau, looking for her finds that Dr. Steve has found her first. However, while Dr. Steve is engaged in some hand-to-hand combat with one of the hostile Indians, Freneau, the Cad, escorts her safely home, and is unjustly hailed as her rescuer, since Gloria was unconscious when Dr. Steve came upon the scene. Back home in New York City, Freneau has made his case and is soon engaged to Gloria, while Dr. Steve remains a silent witness on the sidelines. Gloria has to determine which man is the best man for her, and she eventually does so - after nineteen more damsel-in-distress chapters.—Les Adams <longhorn1939@suddenlink.net>
- Episode 1: "Lost in the Everglades" Gloria Stafford, the young and vivacious daughter of Pierpont Stafford, a wealthy New York banker, goes with her father and brother, David, to spend the winter at Palm Beach, Florida. There Gloria meets and attracts the attention of young Dr. Royce, who is attending Judge Freeman, a friend of the Stafford family, who, with his daughter, Lois, is likewise spending the winter at Palm Beach. David, Gloria's brother, is in love with Lois Freeman and soon discovers that Richard Freneau, a young broker, in charge of the Palm Beach branch office of his firm, is to be his rival for the hand of Lois. Gloria Stafford is under the care of a rather strict governess who insists upon her performing certain tasks each day. Gloria resents the rigid rules laid down by her governess and succeeded in getting Dr. Royce to assist with the problem given her to solve, a task Dr. Royce is glad to assume, merely for the privilege of being near the girl he is learning to admire. One night Gloria eludes her governess, steals out of her room in the Royal Ponciana Hotel looks in upon the gay throng in the ballroom of the hotel, and then, noting her brother's racing big car at the curb, climbs aboard and goes for a moonlight spin along the beach, all by herself. While running the car at high speed she loses control of the steering gear and the car rushes straight out into the breakers of the Atlantic ocean. Gloria succeeds in getting safely out of the car, but loses her way when she attempts to return to the hotel on foot, and dawn finds her wandering in the Everglades, a most lonesome and forlorn little maid.
Episode 2: "Caught by the Seminoles" Gloria Stafford, daughter of Pierpont Stafford, New York millionaire, and sister of David Stafford, after losing herself in the Everglades of Florida, while on a midnight lark in her brother's racing auto, finds her way to the hut of a Florida "cracker" where she obtains a bite to eat and a suit of boy's clothing, in exchange for an expensive ring and a gold bracelet. After discarding her torn and tattered Lucile gown, which was ruined by her plunge in the ocean and wanderings through the sword-grass of the Everglades, Gloria dons the suit of boy's clothing and sets out to find her way back to the Royal Poinciana Hotel at Palm Beach, where her father, brother and governess are staying. The son of the "cracker" sends her in the wrong direction and hours later she wanders into a camp of Seminole Indians and is taken captive. Chief Katcalani, the young brave who has just fallen heir to the chieftainship of the tribe, is much struck by Gloria's beauty and makes bold to propose to her. He offers her a dollar watch, 16 handkerchiefs, his shirts and a gay-colored turban with four silver dollars in the band, if she will become his "squaw," but Gloria is unable to accept, having fainted dead away. Just about this time Dr. Royce, who has been searching the Everglades all night long for a trace of the missing heiress, comes upon the scene and at once clashes with Chief Katcalani. The Seminole chief draws his knife and attacks Dr. Royce, but the husky young physician after a hard struggle succeeds in disarming the chief and mixing things in a regular hammer and tongs fight with bare fists. While the fight is in progress Richard Freneau, also searching for Gloria in the hope of winning the reward which has been offered for her safe return, reaches the little clearing and discovers the unconscious girl. Noting that Royce is too busy to notice what is going on, Freneau bears Gloria away and finally restores her to her anxious father and excited brother. The girl, believing Freneau has really been her savior, is loud in her praises of his bravery and recommends him to her father in the highest terms. Royce, meanwhile, conquers his Indian adversary, returns to find Gloria gone, follows Freneau's trail and arrives on the scene just in time to learn that the young broker has been cad enough to claim credit for a rescue he never performed.
Episode 3: "A Perilous Love" Gloria Stafford, after being rescued from the Seminole Indian camp and restored to her father, feels strongly attracted toward Richard Freneau, the young stock broker, whom she believes rescued her. Her father, Pierpont Stafford, notes this growing affection on the part of his daughter for the youthful Freneau and attempts to laugh Gloria out of what he considers a mere whim. Freneau, when offered a check for several thousand dollars as a reward for his saving Gloria, rejects the slip of paper and declares he wants Gloria. When Pierpont realizes the affair is liable to grow into something serious he bundles Gloria off to New York and soon packs her off to an exclusive boarding school for girls. Gloria has been assured, however, that if at the end of five years she and Freneau still love one another, they may marry. All through her college career Gloria cherishes fond dreams of her lover and his bravery. Freneau, unfortunately, is not faithful and flirts with every pretty woman he encounters. Upon returning to New York City, he goes into partnership with Frank Mulry on the stock exchange and though at first successful, eventually finds that the business is suffering for want of attention. Lois Freeman weds David Stafford, Gloria's brother, but still finds delight in carrying on flirtations with former male acquaintances, one of whom is Freeman. The night Gloria returns from college, she goes to the opera with her father and Dr. Royce. On the main staircase of the Metropolitan Opera House she encounters Richard Freneau and is amazed when he fails to recognize her. Her heart turned to lead in her bosom, Gloria steals quietly into the cool, dark upper box as the curtain rises on the first act of the opera. Freneau suddenly awakens to the serious mistake he has made, recalls his semi-engagement to Gloria and resolves to square himself at the first opportunity.
Episode 4: "The Social Vortex" Richard Freneau, upon realizing that he had made a serious error in failing to recognize Gloria Stafford, when she approached him at the Metropolitan Opera House, after a five years' absence, hastened to rectify his blunder. He called Gloria from her father's box and hastily explained that she had grown so beautiful since last he beheld her, that it was scarcely to be expected that she would be instantly recognized. After an opera glass flirtation at long range Gloria and Freneau seek the quiet of the supper room for a little tete-a-tete. There Gloria is discovered by her father and hustled back to the opera box, in disgrace. Lois Stafford has noted the flirtation and getting Freneau in a quiet corner she proceeds to express her displeasure at his conduct. David, coming upon them suddenly, becomes suspicious that his wife is growing too familiar with Freneau. The following week, at the suggestion of her Aunt Hortensia, Gloria gives a coming-out party to which she manages to have Freneau invited. When the two are interrupted in the conservatory, Gloria asks Freneau to call the following day, promising him a sleigh ride behind her ponies if he will come. He consents just as the chapter ends, believing the sleigh ride must end in a proposal.
Episode 5: "The Gathering Storm" Mrs. David Stafford, who has been carrying on a serious flirtation with Richard Freneau, becomes insanely jealous when she notes Freneau's attentions to Gloria Stafford, at the latter's coming-out party and her agitation is noticed by her husband, as well as others. Freneau, departing from the Stafford mansion on Riverside Drive, is amazed to encounter Gideon Trask, whose daughter he has wronged years before. He strikes Trask with his cane and hurries into a waiting auto. As the car whirls away Trask sets out to follow, but is struck down by a speeding automobile. Next day Freneau goes for a sleigh ride with Gloria and at a lonely country inn, proposes and is accepted. Gloria, as a result of her exposure to the elements, contracts pneumonia and is put to bed by command of Dr. Wakefield, the family physician. Later she grows feverish, and David, her brother, insists on summoning Dr. Stephen Royce to care for her. Dr. Royce objects to the treatment prescribed by Dr. Wakefield and the latter quits the case in disgust, while Royce sets out to do what he can for Gloria. During the night Gloria tosses about in delirium, thinking herself again in Florida and attacked by the Seminole Indians. Just as morning dawns Gloria imagines she has again been saved by Freneau and sinks into a natural slumber.
Episode 6: "Hidden Fires" Gloria Stafford, after being ill for many days with pneumonia, begins to convalesce under the skillful treatment of Dr. Stephen Royce, an old friend of the family who dearly loves Gloria, though the latter is entirely infatuated with Richard Freneau, a thorough cad who has had affairs with a dozen different women. One of Freneau's old flames learns of his intrigue with Mrs. David Stafford, Gloria's sister-in-law, and writes an anonymous letter to Stafford, warning him to watch his wife. David prepares a trap for his wife, by announcing that he is going South for a week or more, and she immediately plans to take a little trip with Freneau, during her husband's absence. Meanwhile, old Gideon Trask, whose daughter Freneau has wronged, rises from a sick bed in the hospital long enough to tell his daughter, Nell, the address of Freneau, and the girl appeals to him for aid, but is ordered out of the house. To escape the reproaches of Mrs. Stafford, with whom he is honestly trying to break off relations, and to avoid suspicion by Gloria, Freneau, at the suggestion of Mulry, his partner, prepares a lot of letters on the stationery of various hotels, tells Gloria he is called away on a business trip and arranges to have Mulry mail the letters from the various cities he is to visit while on a real trip through the middle west. Freneau then plans to join Lois Stafford for one last fling, trusting to luck that Gloria, who continues to convalesce, will never learn of his deception.
Episode 7: "The Harvest of Sin" Gloria Stafford begs so hard to be allowed to see Richard Freneau, her fiancé, that Dr. Royce, her physician, decides to permit her to do so, though she is still convalescing from a severe attack of pneumonia. Freneau, who has arranged to meet Mrs. David Stafford, a former flame of his, at the foot of the Soldiers' and Sailors' monument on Riverside Drive, that night and return her letters, hastens to see Gloria, whom he is preparing to marry for her money. He gives her a necklace and tells her of being called out of the city on business, intending to go away for one last fling with Mrs. Stafford. Dr. Royce learns of Freneau's intended flight with the wife of his friend, David Stafford, and warns him that if he plays Gloria false he will expose him. David, who has been warned by an anonymous letter of his wife's falseness, pretends to leave town and then hastens back to spy upon her. Gideon Trask, father of a girl Freneau has wronged long before, is also on Freneau's trail, seeking revenge. At midnight, Gloria, restless and unable to sleep, goes to her window overlooking Riverside Drive and gazes out through a pair of binoculars. She is amazed to behold a man she believes to be Freneau, her lover, whom she thought speeding westward. A moment later she sees Freneau choked by a dark figure that emerges from the shadows that lie about the monument, and then she beholds the murderer flee. At that she faints away. Was it really Freneau she saw? Was he murdered? And if so, by whom and why?
Episode 8: "The Mesh of Mystery" Gloria Stafford's scream just as she fainted upon seeing the supposed murder of Richard Freneau, her fiancé, at the base of the Soldiers' Monument, just across the way from the Stafford home on Riverside Drive, New York, aroused the household and the night nurse, Pierpont Stafford, and others came rushing to discover the cause of the alarm. When Gloria recovered enough to relate what she had seen through the binoculars from her window, her hearers could scarcely believe their ears and thought her suffering from delirium. Dr. Royce was summoned and to satisfy Gloria that no murder had taken place went across to investigate at the base of the monument, returning to report that all was quiet and still there. Next morning Gloria received a telegram signed "Freneau," reporting his arrival at the first city on his route, and the others felt relieved. Gloria sent a wire in answer and consternation reigned in the Stafford home an hour later when the wire was returned with the message, "Party cannot be found." Later other wires came, signed "Freneau," from Buffalo, Cleveland, Chicago and other points, but each time a reply was sent it was returned with the same response. And then came a day when the morning paper chronicled the finding of the dead body of Freneau in the bay. Gloria fainted, then recovered and as the chapter closes vows to find the murderer of her lover and bring him to justice.
Episode 9: "The Shadow of Scandal" Gloria Stafford thought the worst was over when she learned by the newspapers that Freneau, her fiancé, was really dead, her grief being momentarily dulled in her new resolve to trace down his murderer. But next morning when the dainty frock that had been ordered as her bridal gown arrived her grief was brought back anew, and she sank to the floor. An hour later she gained strength to put the bridal finery away in the box, as in a coffin, and then she faced the world again more fiercely resolved than ever to herself run down the murderer of her intended husband. Dr. Royce, meanwhile, disclosed to Pierpont Stafford what he knew concerning the real character of Freneau and how close Lois Stafford, David's wife, had brought scandal to the door through her reckless flirtations with Freneau. The two agreed the police must never be put on the trail lest the publicity, which would surely follow, should disclose the scandal in David Stafford's home. Gloria found it hard to understand why the police should not be summoned immediately, but her father and Dr. Royce were resolved she should never learn of Freneau's villainy, lest it blast her entire life. In an endeavor to make her forget her grief Pierpont suggested she discard her mourning gown and engagement ring, but, alas, this only caused Gloria to grieve the more. And not even her lover's body was to be given Gloria to bury, for his mother in a Colorado town wired for the remains and they were shipped to her.
Episode 10: "Tangled Threads" During the first few days following her discovery that Freneau, her fiancé, had been murdered, Gloria Stafford yearned again and again for the engagement ring which her father had at last induced her to discard. One day she stealthily abstracted it from Pierpont's pocket when be wasn't looking. In beginning her investigation of Freneau's death she went first of all to the office of Mulry, Dick's partner, and while there was amazed to learn that Lois was also calling on Mulry regarding "poor Mr. Freneau." This led Gloria to suspect Dick had not been as true to her as he had vowed, and later on when she accidentally discovered that the firm of Mulry & Freneau had branch offices in all of the cities from which Freneau's letters had apparently come, she understood at last how easy it had been for Freneau to write the letters in advance and give them to some other member of the firm to mail back to her from each of the cities in which a branch office was located. At last her eyes were open. She understood that Freneau had deceived her. Thoroughly indignant, she rushed home, only an hour later, to decide that Dick never could have been false, and that she was a wicked girl to even suspect him. Meantime Royce had cautioned Mulry against revealing any of Freneau's perfidy to Gloria should she come to him for information a promise that was cheerfully given. David and Lois meanwhile become more lover-like than they had been in a long while and leave for the country home to enjoy a second honeymoon, extending an invitation to Gloria to visit them there. At first she refuses, but later accepts, desiring an opportunity to study Lois at close range and decide for herself if Freneau can have been paying her sister-in-law attention the while he was courting herself.
Episode 11: "The Fugitive Witness" The Stafford family, having arrived at David's country home, prepare to sally forth and enjoy the skating and tobogganing. Gloria is in a somber mood, but is finally persuaded to join the merry party. Mulry, now a guest of his friend Davidson, who lives near David Stafford, looks from his window and sees the skating party on the lake nearby. He tries to persuade his jolly companions to abandon their cards and highballs and join in the outdoor sports, but his pleadings prove futile. On the following day, however, Mulry surprises his companions by bolting, clad in a regulation tobogganing suit, and a few moments later they are amazed at seeing the genial fat man gliding downhill with Gloria Stafford. Mulry, quite unaware with whom he is sliding, is surprised and delighted when Gloria, who has recognized him, invites him to David's home for a hot toddy. He immediately accepts her invitation and a few moments later they are in a tete-a-tete in the big living room. Suddenly Gloria rounds on the astonished Mulry with the question, " Why did you mail the letters from Freneau to me?" Before the disconcerted Mulry can answer, Dr. Royce enters and deliberately puts an end to the conversation. Mulry, at a glance from Royce, excuses himself and departs, exclaiming as he goes, "Good-bye, I'm off for Palm Beach, Florida." As he is about to leave the house Lois intercepts him and asks him if he has seen her letters among Freneau's effects. Mulry replies in the negative. Gloria, angry at Royce for his apparently rude interruption, surprises her father by a sudden demand to be taken to Palm Beach, Fla. A few days later, hard on the heels of Mulry, the Stafford family arrives at Florida. Mulry quickly learns of Gloria's presence and is forced to unusual exertions in trying to evade her. The chase finally becomes too hot for him and he seizes an auspicious moment to decamp. Gloria, one day, meets the Indian who once threatened to make her his squaw. He is now educated and again requests her hand in marriage, quite in accordance with the white man's code. He is surprised and saddened by Gloria's refusal and is about to turn away when he spies Dr. Royce. His face darkens with sudden hate, and Gloria, quick to see the sudden change, questions him. To her horror she learns from him that Dr. Royce and not Freneau was her rescuer.
Episode 12: "Her Fighting Spirit" Failing to overtake Mulry at Palm Beach, Gloria Stafford, her father, brother and Doctor Royce return to New York but Gloria continues to mourn over the loss of Freneau, her fiancé, and grows more pale and wan with each passing day. Doctor Royce, noticing her pallor, searches for something that will divert her mind from her grief. Then Judge Freeman rises and explains that he must hurry away. Royce instantly decides a visit to the night court and a glimpse of the seamy side of life may prove just the shock Gloria needs to turn her mind from her own troubles. Accordingly Royce, Gloria and Pierpont accompany Judge Freeman to the court and sit as spectators while one case after another is tried. A humble waiter named Casinum, whose wife just died, is brought before the judge, and the millionaire reluctantly consents. Mulry is brought before the court for speeding, and Gloria gets Judge Freeman to commit him to jail till she can question him. A tramp, charged with being "drunk and disorderly," is then arraigned, and Gloria recognizes in him Gideon Trask, the man who murdered Freneau, attempts to scream out her accusation, but faints before she can utter a word. She is borne away and Freeman nods warily and orders the man released, since it is his first offense. Later when Gloria recovers and tells her story she finds the man is gone, and sets out to follow him.
Episode 13: "The Midnight Riot" Gloria Stafford after recognizing in Gideon Trask the murderer of her lover, Richard Freneau, and recovering from the swoon that follows the recognition of Trask, sets out to follow the murderer. She traces him down into an evil part of the city and there is set upon by thugs, from whom she escapes with difficulty. Resuming her pursuit of Trask she follows him into a saloon in a touch district where she is seized by Choey McFadden, who insists upon her dancing with him. Doctor Royce, immediately after Gloria left the chambers of Judge Freeman, sets out to follow her to protect her from harm. She moves so swiftly from place to place, however, that Royce is never quite able to catch up to her, and only arrives at the saloon after Gloria has been insulted by McFadden. Royce knocks the burly character down and then the police are summoned to break up the riot which follows. Gloria, Royce and McFadden are arrested and taken to night court, where Judge Freeman and Pierpont Stafford are astonished to behold Gloria and Royce in the toils of the police. Trask has escaped from the saloon during the melee.
Episode 14: "The Floating Trap" [not published]
Episode 15: "The Murderer at Bay" Gloria Stafford upon being taken prisoner aboard Gideon Trask's barge, after she has followed the man she believes to be the murderer of Richard Freneau, her fiancé, watches and waits for an opportunity to escape. She assists Nell Trask about her household tasks and when the two girls are folding up a tablecloth, Gloria suddenly flings the cloth over the head of Nell and later binds her securely to a chair. Gideon, who has been on deck, hears the noise of the struggle below and comes down to investigate. Gloria attacks him with a red hot poker and finally succeeds in tying him up also. Jed, a deckhand, comes to the rescue, but Gloria trips him up, hastens on deck, slams down the hatch, and donning an oilskin coat and hat leaps down into a dinghy attached to the barge by a rope, and makes her way to shore. Arriving on shore Gloria commandeers an automobile and speeds away toward her country home. Doctor Royce and Pierpont Stafford, meanwhile, grown nervous over Gloria's absence from home, imagine that she may have gone up to the Stafford home in the country, and motor there to seek her.
Episode 16: "A Modern Pirate" Gloria, after running away with the auto of the young man who sought to flirt with her, drives to her country home, and there first relieves the anxiety of her father, brother and Doctor Royce over her whereabouts, and then frightens them more than ever by telling of the hair-raising adventure through which she has been. She insists that the man who murdered Freneau, her fiancé, is even then plowing up the Hudson river aboard the barge from which she has just escaped, and that someone must go with her to capture him. Doctor Royce and Gloria proceed to a point from which they can overlook the river and there in the distance they behold the barge just disappearing from sight. Gloria, Royce and Pierpont himself board the Stafford private yacht and set off in pursuit of Trask. When the murderer discovers he is being followed he shoots at the pilot in the wheelhouse of the yacht, wounding the man, but failing to stop the pursuit. Later Doctor Royce wounds Trask and within a few moments the yacht has drawn alongside the barge and Trask, his daughter Nell, and Jed, his mate, all are made prisoners, and taken back to the Stafford country home. There David and Lois, his wife, as well as Judge Freeman are waiting their coming and Judge Freeman in particular fears the consequences, for he has warned Gloria that the capture of Trask will surely result in bringing more sorrow and unhappiness down upon her and those she loves, though he has refused to go further in his explanation of what he means.
Episode 17: "The Tell-Tale Envelope" After capturing Gideon Trask, the man she believes murdered her fiancé, Richard Freneau, Gloria Stafford has him conveyed to the Stafford country home to be treated by Doctor Royce for his injuries and in hope of extracting a confession from him of what really happened at the base of the Soldier' and Sailors' Monument where Freneau was killed. Royce has in his pocket the letters he took from Freneau and which the latter was planning to return to Lois Stafford the night he met his death. Just as he is about to give the letters to Lois, her husband, David Stafford, appears and Royce slips the letters back into his pocket. Later on, while romping about the lawn with little Staas Casinum, the child finds the envelope containing the letters and runs to Gloria with it. Gloria recognizes the envelope as the one Freneau showed her the night he bade her farewell, and insists upon reading one of the enclosures, thus discovering that Freneau and Lois were about to go away on a trip together. Gloria declares she believes Royce implicated in the murder and the latter is forced to tell how he took the letters from Freneau's pocket after he found him murdered, also the full details of the affair between Freneau and Lois. Gloria next encounters Judge Freeman and insists that he tell her why he released Trask when the latter was brought before him in court. The judge then discloses for the first time how David had discovered the intrigue between his wife and Freneau. and had sworn to kill the man who was ruining his home. Freeman then relates how he found Freneau's dead body. believes David killed him, and how he himself dragged the body to the river's edge and rolled it in. Shocked and half believing that her brother is really a murderer, Gloria . goes in search of him.
Episode 18: "The Bitter Truth" Gloria Stafford, after forcing confessions from the lips of Doctor Royce and Judge Freeman as to what happened the night her fiancé, Richard Freneau, was killed, learns that all the evidence points toward her own brother, David Stafford, as the murderer. She finds David and leads him to the upper room in which Gideon Trask, the man Gloria has seen choking Freneau to death, is recovering from injuries received when he was captured aboard his barge in the Hudson river. Gloria believes David must have hired Gideon to commit the murder, and that when he is brought face to face with the man he will confess. David is puzzled as to why Gloria takes him upstairs, and Gloria is amazed to discover Trask gone, he having been aided to escape by Judge Freeman, who feared a confession would fasten the guilt upon David Stafford. Later Gloria meets Lois Stafford, David's wife, and shows her the packet of letters she had written Freneau, and which Doctor Royce had extracted from the dead man's pocket to return to her, but which had fallen into Gloria's hands instead. Gloria demands that Lois confess all to David. Lois refuses and tries to hurl herself to death on a nearby railroad track, but is prevented by Gloria. Relenting completely, Gloria gives Lois her letters and the latter immediately tears them to shreds. Satisfied that only more unhappiness will follow her further attempts to solve the mystery Gloria confesses that she has given up her attempt to bring Freneau's murderer to justice, much to the relief of all. Later Frank Mulry, Freneau's partner, calls to pay back the $10,000 Freneau had borrowed from Pierpont Stafford, and admits to Gloria that it was he who mailed Freneau's letters to her, the ones which had so puzzled her when she received them following her fiancé's death. Satisfied that her former lover was as despicable as he had been accused of being, Gloria tears up Mulry's check.
Episode 19: "Her Vow Fulfilled" Gloria Stafford receives a call from a committee of women, who are arranging a benefit to raise funds for establishing a field hospital for the American troops stationed on the Mexican border, and willingly offers to arrange a children's festival and pageant on the lawn of the Stafford country home, together with an amateur theatrical entertainment to be given indoors. Her father, brother, Doctor Royce, Judge Freeman and the other friends of the Staffords agree to assist in the affair. After the committee has departed the Staffords are amazed to have Gideon Trask, his daughter, and Jed, her lover, suddenly appear. Gideon explains that he feels certain he is dying from the wounds he received when he was captured aboard his barge, and that ere dying he wants to confess himself the murderer of Freneau. Gloria sits down to listen to his story and Freeman summons Stafford's private secretary to take down the confession. Trask explains how he was left alone with his only daughter following the death of his wife and relates how happy they were together until Freneau appeared, met Nell, made love to her and then deserted her. Upon learning how his daughter had been wronged, Trask vowed to kill the guilty man and confesses that he followed him to New York, came face to face with him at the base of the Soldiers' and Sailors' Monument, and deliberately choked him to death. He assures Gloria that neither her brother, Doctor Royce nor Judge Freeman had anything to do with the crime, and that the guilt is his alone. A great load is thus lifted from Gloria's heart and Freeman, knowing that Trask has not long to live, urges Jed and Nell to take him to some quiet spot and see that his last moments are peaceful ones. Gloria, though grieving over Trask, cannot but rejoice that her suspicions of her brother were unfounded.
Episode 20: "Love's Reward" [not published]
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