The story
He was a hardheaded old businessman and very mercenary, so when he received a letter from a debtor in a little country town asking for more time in which to pay the amount he owed, he decided to show no mercy. But on the way to the home of his debtor he had an accident. He slipped and fell from a cliff upon a projecting ledge below. He was thinking less of his money than of his chances of prolonging his life when he heard someone call him, and looking up he saw a girl standing on the cliff. She was quick-witted and resourceful, for she soon secured a rope, lowered herself to where the man was, and helped him back to safety. To his surprise he found that she was the daughter of the man whom he intended to turn out of his home. He spent a short time at the girl’s home, recovering from his slight injuries sustained during his accident, and then prepared to return to the city, assuring the anxious father that he could have all the time he wanted to pay his mortgage. His farewell to the girl was very sentimental, for she was fair to look upon, and the crabbed old bachelor persuaded himself that he was in love.
Time went by, and the old businessman kept thinking continually of the girl. He decided that she would consider it a great honor to marry him, so he wrote a letter asking him to marry him, and enclosing the mortgage on her father’s place. Strange to say, the girl was not flattered when she received the proposal. Fortune had been kind to her father of late, and he had ample funds to pay the mortgage. So she wrote a very indignant letter to her ancient suitor, and enclosed the epistle with these words: ‘Must I marry you because I saved your life? If so come back and I will push you off the cliff and give another girl a chance. Take back your mortgage.’ The old bachelor received the mortgage and the letter in due course, and first was very angry, but deep within him was a well of unsuspected humor, and as he read the closing lines of the letter he threw back his head and laughed long and heartily. The mortgage was never foreclosed, for its holder tore it up.
Summary from The Moving Picture World · 8 March 1913
