The Apaches of Paris
Summary
Montmartre’s gaslit arteries throb with predatory hunger as Darcelle, a velvet-gloved scavenger in evening dress, reroutes an ocean of dollars meant for Paula Farrell, a Missouri songbird who trusts the postman more than her own heartbeat. Each intercepted envelope tightens a garrote of desperation: the Farrell farm slips into foreclosure, Mama Farrell exhales her last wishful lie—"My daughter conquers Paris"—and Paula, left with nothing but a rented piano and a landlord who accepts only coin, drifts into the spider’s silk. Darcelle’s seduction is transactional: one stolen kiss buys silence, one pawned heirloom buys dinner. When Marjorie—sun-bright, corn-fed, unbearably alive—arrives with a suitcase and a sister’s intuition, the predator pivots, sniffing fresher meat. Paula, now branded "kept woman" by the boulevard gossips, watches her life split like a cracked 78-rpm disc: Side A is the glittering lie she mails home; Side B is the nocturnal truth she scrubs from her skin before dawn. Austin, an expat architect who still believes in manifest destiny of the heart, stumbles upon the mess and mistakes pity for love. The climax detonates in a low-ceilinged café where sweaty bodies mimic an Apache knife fight: the male dancer is punished for desire, the female for vengeance—Paula sees her own future choreographed in sweat and fake blood. Hours later, Marjorie’s blood soaks the apartment rug, a crimson libretto no aria can erase. Paula arms herself with the same switchblade that killed the Apache onstage, but revenge is not a transatlantic parcel; it refuses delivery. Darcelle crashes through the windowpane of his own making, impaled on the wrought-iron spears of a city that has always sided with spectacle over justice. Austin cradles Paula’s convulsing body, forgiveness flickering like a faulty projector—enough light to see, never enough to warm.
Synopsis
In his effort to ensnare Paula, an American girl studying music in Paris, Darcelle intercepts her mail and steals the money sent her from America. When financial reverses beggar the Farrells, they send Paula her passage money and urge her to return home. This money is stolen by Darcelle. Desperate, and anxious to aid her mother and sister, the girl falls a victim to the scoundrel's wiles. Mrs. Farrell dies, believing that her daughter has achieved success abroad. Marjorie, Paula's sister, unexpectedly comes to Paris to live with her. Paula endeavors to hide her secret, but it is revealed when Austin, a young American who loves her, learns of the girl's affair with Darcelle. Late that night, half-crazed as the result of the denouement, Paula visits a cafe and witnesses a performance of the "Dance of the Apaches." The fate which is meted out to the male Apache deeply impresses the girl. During her absence, Darcelle, whose eyes have turned towards Marjorie, enters Paula's apartment. Confronted by the scoundrel, Marjorie stabs and mortally wounds herself to escape him. Darcelle flees just before the elder sister returns. Dying, Marjorie tells her story to Paula. Remembering the fate dealt out to the Apache, the girl vows to slay her sister's murderer. The police have been looking for Darcell, and the man takes refuge in Paula's apartment. The girl's attempt to slay him fails. Austin, who is aiding the police, enters the apartment with the latter just in time to save Paula's life. Darcelle leaps from a window in trying to escape and is killed. Austin learns Paula's story and forgives her.
