Summary
In a poignant tableau of societal decline and desperate ambition, 'Dulcie's Adventure' unfurls the tale of a once-illustrious Southern lineage now teetering on the precipice of destitution. Our titular heroine, Dulcie, finds herself a reluctant pawn in her Aunt Netta's audacious scheme: a strategic relocation to the sun-drenched, moneyed climes of California, specifically to ensnare a millionaire husband. Despite her heart's steadfast devotion to Harry, her steadfast sweetheart left behind in the verdant South, Dulcie is propelled into a meticulously orchestrated engagement with a seemingly affluent suitor, a sacrifice deemed necessary to salvage her family's tarnished honor and financial ruin. The wedding day looms, a day of profound, self-imposed martyrdom, until the dramatic intervention of fate – or rather, the law – shatters the illusion. At the very altar, as Dulcie prepares to seal her loveless fate, her intended's vast fortune is unmasked as ill-gotten gains, culminating in his spectacular arrest for bank robbery. Simultaneously, Harry, driven by an unyielding love, dramatically arrives from the South to reclaim his beloved. Witnessing the sudden collapse of the sham marriage, he seizes the moment, volunteering to take the place of the disgraced groom, an offer Dulcie, with a newfound clarity and relief, embraces without a moment's hesitation, signaling a triumphant reclamation of true affection over mercenary obligation.
Dulcie's once-aristocratic Southern family has fallen upon hard times, so her Aunt Netta decides to take her to California in search of a millionaire husband. While Dulcie pines for Harry, her sweetheart back home, Netta triumphantly arranges an engagement with a wealthy suitor. On her wedding day, preparing to sacrifice herself for her family, Dulcie discovers that her fiance's millions actually belong to other people when he is arrested at the altar on a bank robbing charge. Meanwhile, Harry, who has come West to get Dulcie back, arrives at the wedding just as the police interrupt it. He volunteers to take the arrested fiance's place, and Dulcie accepts his offer instantly.
