THE STOLEN HEART
A comedy by WILL M. HOUGH, author of "A STUBBORN CINDERELLA,"
"THE GIRL QUESTION," "THE GIRL AT THE GATE," "THE TIME, THE
PLACE AND THE GIRL, "THE LAND OF NOD," etc,>tc.
Produced by RALPH DELMORE
CAST
MR. BROWN
THE sensation of a grand masquerade ball is a stunning girl, costumed in black, who wears
a peculiar ornament on heir breast—a flaming red heart. Jack Harrington, who has the
reputation of a heart-breaker, tries his best to make an impression and lays a wager with
a number of club men that he will get the heart and determine the identity of "the girl
in black." Happily for the frustrating of his scheme, a busy little boy tells the veiled lady, so
that she is armed for the adventure. When daring Jack invites her to use his automobile going
home, she declines, but when the midnight hour sounds she slips out to her own waiting auto
and he follows in his own machine. The machine stops at her house, and she and an elderly
escort enter. Jack has perturbation that the man may be her father, but he feels that he must
bring back the heart or earn the everlasting ridicule of all his friends.
The girls in the house are soon alive to the fact that the autmobile dropped a man in the
grounds. Bessie tells them the story of the young man, the best, and the desire for the heart
that adorns her breast. Instead of becoming frightened at the idea of a man in the garden below, she tells them that she has no fear of a burglar and will handle the guest herself. When
Jack sees the light extinguished in the room, he climbs a heavy trellis supporting a vine that
reaches directly to her window. He enters and tiptoes about the shadowy room in search of the
ornament. He sees the heart, slips it in his pocket, together with her picture. Just then a
sound from the adjoining room frightens him, and he slips into a dressing cabinet. A real burglar comes through the- window, wearing a mask. The beauty, who is awake, covers him with
a revolver, and in a low voice orders him to obey her directions or she will shoot. She tells
him to put on a dressing gown, and explains that it is a joke on somebody. Jack, thinking the
coast is clear, comes out, and the girl switches on the light. She tells him
that she will call for her husband. Panic-stricken, he makes a dash for the
window and falls out headlong. Just then the real burglar emerges from
concealment. Jack has been captured by two policemen and brought back,
and is denounced by the real burglar as the culprit. The police search him
and he is made to restore the heart and the picture. But Jack finally pleads
with the girl and obtains her forgiveness. A genuine, snappy,
comedy, full of fun and fine fancy.
Jack
Nelson
SELIG