The story
“The vender did a good business, but he had no steady customers. Strangers were lured into dealing with him because of the low prices he asked, but they never returned. For a long time the vender loved nothing in the world except his money, but finally he became infatuated with a girl. She was honest, but so poor that her only gown was made of newspapers. One day misfortune came to the girl. A goat, attracted by her daily costumes, tried to devour it. She struggled in vain, but help arrived in the shape of a raggedly garbed man with a bright red nose. He drove the goat away, and most naturally the girl agreed to marry her preserver. The villainous vegetable vender was indignant when he heard they were wedded. Then the husband revealed the fact that he was a millionaire, interested in work among the poor, and had disguised himself to make his investigations easier.
“Several years passed, and the villainous vegetable vender grew more and more villainous. One day he read in the newspapers that the son of the millionaire’s wife had disappeared and the police were looking for him, while his mother was heartbroken. It was explained that he could be identified by a strawberry mark on his right arm and a locket with his mother’s picture. The villain found the boy, imprisoned him in a vegetable bin, and told him he would remain in that unpleasant prison for many years. Fortunately for the child, he was quick witted. On the back of the locket he scratched the letters ‘C.Q.D.’ and hid it in a tomato. He hoped that some kind hearted person would buy the tomato, and notify his parents.
“By good luck his own father’s cook bought the tomato, and father tried to eat it. He injured his teeth on the locket, but forgot his pain when he read the pitiful call for help. It was easy to trace the villain down, and father consigned the criminal to prison.”
Summary from The Moving Picture World · 27 November 1915
