Summary
A champagne-soaked scion of Nob Hill, Perry Danton, skids across polished parquet floors toward an ultimatum: earn a pay-stub at the family law firm or forfeit an empire of cable-car gold. Before ink dries on his employment contract, San Francisco’s fog swallows him whole: Slim Attucks—a gutter doppelgänger with shark-grin confidence—slips into Perry’s monogrammed life by pure facial accident, spiriting the genuine heir onto a reeking freighter pointed at the volcanic maw of Honolulu. While salt crust cakes the real Perry’s bespoke shoes, Attucks installs his pick-pocket court inside the Danton ballroom: a ledger-forging valet, a blackmail-ready chauffeur, a society columnist on the take. Perry’s return—sun-scorched, penniless, incredulous—plays like a Kafka prelude scored for ukulele; every acquaintance greets him as impostor, every document attests to his counterfeit. Only when a terrier’s nose brushes the cuff of a familiar trouser does the masquerade fracture, revealing that audacity itself has been the singular heirloom worth safeguarding.
Synopsis
Reckless heir of an influential San Francisco family, Perry Danton must prove his worth by taking a job with the family lawyer before he is entrusted with the Danton fortune. When Perry's fiancée Camilla mistakes criminal Slim Attucks for Perry, Attucks realizes that he can take advantage of the resemblance and concocts an elaborate plan, installing his cohorts in positions close to the Dantons. He then has Perry shanghaied onto a steamer bound for Honolulu. Taking over Perry's job and fiancée, Attucks soon becomes so familiar with Perry's affairs that Perry can make no one believe his story when he returns. After enlisting the aid of the editor of a major newspaper, Perry confronts his double in the lawyer's office, where a test is administered that supports Attucks' claim, thanks to Perry's feeble knowledge of his own affairs. Perry is spotted by a banker whom Attucks had previously robbed and is subsequently arrested, but a reporter who believes Perry's story arranges for his release and for yet another confrontation, this time in Perry's home. All the evidence points against Perry until his dog recognizes his true master, exposing Attucks' charade. Camilla tells Perry that she has known of the deception for some time, but that she would not speak up until Perry had proved true to the Danton motto: "Always Audacious."
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