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The Hand of Peril Synopsis

James Kestner is a government secret agent on the trail of a band of counterfeiters and particularly anxious to locate the head of the gang, Frank Lambert, who, in addition to his skill as a counterfeiter, is known to the underworld as the only man who can fill in the perforations of a used bank check. Kestner locates the band in their underground work shop near the river front. He cleverly maneuvers his way into the headquarters of the band when it is empty, but is caught in the act of searching for incriminating evidence by "Bull's Eye" Cherry, a clever girl crook, and one of the mainstays of Lambert's crowd. Lambert and his daughter, who has been educated in crime by her father, return to find Kestner held at the point of Cherry's revolver. Lambert is for killing the detective outright. Impressed by Kestner's brave demeanor, Maura intercedes in his behalf, but finding her father determined in his intention to kill the government agent, she pretends that the police are outside. The counterfeiters make their escape without settling accounts with Kestner. Kestner locates the criminals in their new quarters. One of his assistants trails "Bull's Eye," who has the new counterfeit plates in her possession, but she cleverly evades capture and returns the plates to Lambert's headquarters. Kestner forces his way into the gang's rooms, arriving just in time to witness a desperate battle between Lambert and Tony Morello, one of his accomplices, whose passion for Maura has led him to attempt to force his advances upon her. Lambert kills Morello with a knife, but before dying the man acquaints Maura with the fact that Lambert is not her real father, but that he stole her when a baby and reared her to this life of crime. Kestner places Lambert under arrest, but the crook evades capture a second time by a ruse. Kestner's assistant arrives with the police, but Kestner permits Maura to go free on account of her having saved his life on the occasion of their first meeting. Kestner is determined to capture Lambert single-handed. He trails him to a midnight rendezvous on a wharf, where he and Lambert fight it out to a finish. The revolver battle between the two men in the dark culminates in a hand-to-hand encounter in which Kestner ultimately proves victor, but has barely strength enough to handcuff himself to his unconscious opponent before collapsing. In the end Kestner induces Maura to return to the straight road, and she takes up her home with his mother. The story closes with the intimation that the romance so strangely begun will lead, as time passes, to a life of happiness for them, together.

A Butterfly on the Wheel Synopsis

Peggy Admaston and her husband are socialites whose happy marriage quickly deteriorates as Admaston neglects his young wife for business matters, and is unaware of her loneliness and vulnerability. When Peggy is wooed by Admaston's friend Collingwood, who acts on his feelings without regard to consequences, she grows fond of him, but remains faithful to Admaston. After socialite Lady Attwill causes Admaston to doubt his wife's fidelity, his suspicions are furthered when a fire erupts one evening at the theater, and Admaston returns home unexpectedly to find that Peggy, who refused to accompany him because she said that she did not feel well, entertained a male visitor that evening. Admaston arranges to trap Peggy and Collingwood together at a country roadhouse, and begins divorce proceedings based on the resulting strong circumstantial evidence. Later, Lady Attwill convinces Admaston that Peggy's friendship with Collingwood was innocent and the couple is reunited.