Summary
A successful wordsmith, Dane Ashley, retreats from the urban cacophony to a newly inherited rural estate, seeking solace from the relentless grind. His quest for tranquility is abruptly shattered by the unsettling spectacle of a young woman, Virginia Carlton, besieged by a jeering throng of children. His intervention sparks an improbable connection, yet her abrupt disappearance behind a formidable stone wall, coupled with the villagers' chilling whispers of her "madness," only deepens the enigma surrounding her. Dane, captivated by her ethereal purity, dismisses these insidious rumors, meticulously orchestrating encounters that blossom into a profound, undeniable affection. However, Virginia, burdened by an unseen weight, erects an emotional barricade, declaring an insurmountable "wall of shame and misery" between them. The haunting strains of a child's laughter from her side of the divide lead Dane to a poignant, albeit erroneous, conclusion: a past indiscretion, a secret motherhood. Yet, her unblemished innocence continually refutes this theory. The mystery escalates with spectral nocturnal sightings of a wild-eyed doppelgänger, a seductive phantom luring men into the shadows, only to vanish into the night. This bewildering duality torments Dane, who grapples with the terrifying possibility of Virginia's fragmented psyche. The truth, when it finally unfurls, is a tapestry of familial tragedy: Virginia's twin sister, Helen, a victim of a forbidden love, a hurried marriage, a devastating accident, and subsequent amnesia, leaving behind a child and a shattered existence. Virginia, in a profound act of sisterly devotion, has shouldered Helen's burden, protecting her and her infant from a cruel world, inadvertently creating the very illusion of her own madness. The arrival of Dr. Robert Haskell, Helen's estranged husband, and Dane's triumphant return with the fragile Helen, brings the intricate deception to a cathartic, if harrowing, conclusion, reuniting a fractured family and affirming a love forged in the crucible of profound misunderstanding and selfless sacrifice.
Synopsis
Dane Ashley, a successful young author, is informed that he has inherited an old estate in a small village, and being tired of his work and life in the city, he decides to go down and stay on the place for a brief rest. One day Dane is amazed to find a crowd of boys and girls pelting a young girl. He rescues the girl and would punish her tormentors, but she begs him to let the matter drop and hurriedly disappears through the door in the stone wall which separates his house from the one next to it. Much impressed with his young neighbor, Dane makes inquiries about her and learns that she is a Miss Virginia Carlton and that nothing is known concerning her except that she is crazy. Disbelieving the rumors as to Virginia's insanity, Dane uses clever little ruses to further his acquaintance, and the friendship so strangely begun, soon develops into love. Although Virginia cannot conceal her love for him, she tells him their friendship must cease, that there is a wall of shame and misery between them which prevents their ever being anything to each other. Dane thinks he has guessed her secret when he hears a baby at play on her side of the wall; he believes she has been the victim of an unwise and too-great love, but when he is with Virginia her purity and innocence totally contradict this theory. One night he is startled to see a face, which he is sure is Virginia, which is lit is lit up by a wild and impish gleam, peering in at his window. When he reaches the window he sees the girl fleeing over the high stone wall. A few nights later he meets her on the road. She gives no sign of recognition, but leads him on. Dane cannot understand; his heart sick at the thought that the pure-souled Virginia, whom he loves could act thus wantonly, but the next day, when he meets Virginia, she is again the sweet simple girl and he becomes convinced that it must be during moments of temporary insanity that she makes her nocturnal excursions. Nightly the girl is seen in the village, a beautiful evil spirit luring men from their firesides, to render them mad with strange passions and unfulfilled desires, for she always escapes from her victims. At last Virginia can restrain her feelings no longer and she tells Dane that she wants him to hear her story and to help her. Two years before, her twin sister, Helen, had fallen in love with a young naval surgeon. When their father had sternly forbidden her ever to see him again, the impulsive girl left home and went to the surgeon's hotel. There she lived with him as his wife for two weeks, until he was suddenly called away to foreign waters. Returning to her father's home, Helen was injured in an automobile wreck and her mind shattered. The father died of the shock, and Virginia, realizing her sister's condition, had rented the house in the country. Here Helen's child was born. Dane is overwhelmed with happiness to know that the girl he loves is neither insane nor the mother of the child he had supposed hers. He tells Virginia he will locate her sister and bring her back. He sends his friend, Dr. Robert Haskell, to Virginia to aid her. Virginia denounces Dr. Haskell for his treachery to her sister, and before he can reply, Dane brings in the unconscious Helen, whom he found wandering about the streets. Doctor Haskell works over the wounded girl, and while they await anxiously the result of his operation, he explains to Virginia that she is doing both her sister and herself grave injustice. He tells the astonished girl that he and Helen were married on the day she left her father's home, and that ever since his return from the foreign parts he had been searching vainly for his wife. Gradually life and memory return to Helen and she throws her arms about her husband's neck as Virginia and Dane look on.
