The story
“Working on the theory that Florence Gray, the 18-year-old daughter of Stanley Hargreave, the hunted millionaire, knows where her father’s money is hidden, the Black Hundred conspirators determine to trap her in their rooms and there force her to reveal the secret she is believed to possess. In carrying out this plan they are aided by their knowledge that Florence Gray never has seen her father, a circumstance which obviously would enable one of their number to disguise himself to impersonate Stanley Hargreave and thus ingratiate himself into the guileless child’s affections and confidence.
“Braine—aptly named, for he is the intelligent, driving force behind the Black Hundred’s plot to get Hargreave’s fortune—drafts a note calculated to appeal to the father-love of the simple boarding school graduate. The conspirator’s note reads as follows:
“’My Darling Daughter: I must see you tonight. Come to 78 Grove Street, top floor, at 8 o’clock. Confide in no one if you would not seal my death warrant.—Your loving father.’
“That night Braine, unwilling to trust any of his fellow conspirators with so delicate a mission, creeps into the park surrounding the house and climbs in his stocking feet to the roof of the veranda upon which Florence Gray’s bedroom window opens. Braine makes his way across the shingles until he reaches the window. It does not readily open to give him opportunity to slip the note beneath it, so Braine uses a knife to force the warped sash. Florence, only half asleep, hears someone tampering with her window.
“Too terror-stricken to scream, she nevertheless leaps from her bed into the middle of the room and then to the window. Braine, his object attained, has gone. Florence picks up the envelope and tears it open. Its contents have not the ring of sincerity but Florence is too eager to clasp her father in her arms to long consider what she believes may only be her own false suspicion.
“Down at the entrance to the mansion Jones, the butler, opens the door to find A. Leo Stevens, the aeronaut, with a message for him. Braine, creeping across the lawn, sees the balloonist talking with the butler, but in his hurry to escape attaches little importance to the circumstance. Prevented by the note’s caution from confiding her doubts to Miss Farlow, her companion, Florence is undecided as to what to do. Her desire to see her parent wins over her suspicions, however, and that evening a heavily veiled young woman steals out through the grounds of the Hargreave mansion toward the address named in the note.
“She finds 84 [sic] Grove Street an apartment house in a secluded and unpretentious neighborhood. She makes her way from landing to landing until she reaches the door leading into the apartment on the top floor. A knock soon brings what appears to be a venerable old man to the door. Florence is undecided what to do, but as the old man bears a striking resemblance to the painting of her father the girl does not resist when he clasps her in his arms.
“Florence’s meeting with the man who purports to be her father is attended by constraint. Something is lacking in the warmth of the other’s greeting. Something rings false and the timid girl is quick to sense the dissonance. Her suspicions are verified only too quickly. From commonplaces the conversation, avoiding all personalities, too quickly passes to the subject of Hargreave’s wealth.
“’How shall I know you are my daughter if you cannot tell me where my money is hidden?’ demands Florence’s supposed father. The question convinces the girl that she has been trapped, that the man to whom she is talking is a cleverly disguised impostor. While the latter’s back is turned, she stealthily tries the door behind her. It is locked. When she tries another door in the room the stranger leads her away from it, while a benevolent smile plays upon his features.
“Despite her repugnance for the man who has professed to be her father, Florence could not prevent him from embracing her without revealing her suspicion of him. While he had his arms about her Florence was horrified to see in the mantel mirror five faces peering through the door.
“Florence’s opportunity to escape came soon after. The false father leaves the room. She hears him planning with the conspirators to torture her into a confession. She sees one of the men struggling with a writhing python which is to be freed in the room with her if she does not tell them what they want to know. Quickly all pretense of friendship or paternity is dropped. The false father seizes Florence by her throat at the moment that the conspirators enter with the writhing python. Florence seizes a chair with which she smashes the only lamp in the room. While the conspirators grope about, the girl quickly shuts herself in a cabinet built into the wall. The gangsters believe, when they discover her absence, that she has thrown herself from the window. But, as they peer out, a noise behind them makes them turn, only to see Florence dash through the open doorway into the hall. She locks the door behind her and flees to safety.”
Summary from Reel Life · 11 July 1914
