The story
“The girl was young, pretty, and also a good business woman. When her father died, she took up the reins of management and ran an orange grove with successful results. Her mother, who lived with her, was proud of the self-reliant girl, and their life was peaceful and happy. Her capable hands were so busy, making a modest fortune, that she had no time to think of love. One day, however, the ‘prince’ appeared. He was a tourist from the North, good looking, well dressed, and of gentlemanly manners. It was love at first sight on both sides, and the girl dreamed of a happy home with the man she loved. Then the awakening came. She learned that the man had a wife, an invalid and a cripple. The man did not tell her; the news was broken to her by accident. Self-reliant people suffer the most when sorrow comes, it is said, and the girl was no exception to the rule. Life had become bitter to her, and in a moment of weakness she decided to end it all, and wandered down to the sea. Looking around to know that she was unobserved, she was just in time to see another woman leap overboard. The girl forgot her own troubles, jumped into the water, and saved the unfortunate. After she had brought her ashore and revived her, she recognized the unhappy one as the wife who was the barrier between herself and the man.
“The wife did not know her rescuer, but in gratitude told her story, of physical suffering, of neglect and coldness that had made her determine to seek rest in the grave. The girl listened and breathed a silent prayer of thankfulness for her romance is blasted, and she could see clearly that the man was not worth a sacrifice. So the thought of self-destruction passed away and never again to return. The self-reliant girl pitied the poor weak woman, and induced her to make her home with her. There later the girl received a letter from the man, telling of the death of a ‘rich relative’ which, he explained, made their marriage possible. He added that he would call that afternoon to discuss the date of their marriage. The man was promptly on hand. The girl met him and led him through the grove to the house. Then she stepped aside and pointed to a woman asleep in an invalid’s chair. The man looked and recognized the wife he thought dead. ‘I saved her life,’ the girl whispered, ‘your neglect and brutality drove her to attempt suicide. My intention is to see that her remaining days are happy. You have no part in the life of either of us. Go and never return.’ The man, touched for once, made no comment, but departed. The wife awoke and sleepily asked the girl if they had a visitor. ‘No one that either of us knows or ever will know,’ was the reply. ‘Go to sleep again, dear, and awake to a happier future. You are living in an Adamless Eden now,’ and the wife, with a half-sleepy smile of comprehension, dozed off again, while the girl watched her with a look of love and pity. For even if you are capable and self-reliant, it is hard to realize that your idol has feet of clay and that the days of romance are over for you forever.”
Summary from The Moving Picture News · 23 March 1912
