Summary
The narrative introduces Nat Duncan, a cynical café bouncer whose world is upended by the sudden reappearance of his former street-hustling confidante, Handsome Harry. Harry, now surprisingly affluent and accompanied by a bejeweled socialite, presents Nat with a tantalizing proposition: a blueprint for marrying into wealth. He offers financial backing—clothing, a train ticket to the unassuming town of Radville—in exchange for a share of Nat’s future marital gains. Nat, embracing this new identity, meticulously crafts the persona of a virtuous, well-to-do churchman, inadvertently becoming the romantic target of numerous local women, including Josie Lockwood, the banker’s daughter. His path soon crosses with Betty Graham, whose father's struggling drugstore is a casualty of his quixotic quest to extract gasoline from crude oil. Nat, with unexpected business acumen, revitalizes the drugstore. This newfound stability is threatened by Harry's arrival, his own fortune squandered, as he attempts to coerce Nat into marrying Josie to recoup his investment. However, Nat, demonstrating a surprising ingenuity, employs a clever ruse involving a wax model to feign fickleness, thus dissolving his engagement to Josie and clearing the way for his true affection for Betty.
Synopsis
Cafe bouncer Nat Duncan is astonished to see his old panhandling pal Handsome Harry visiting the cabaret in the company of a bejeweled matron. Harry persuades Nat that he too can marry money and agrees to support him in the venture for a share of the profit; he supplies him with clothes and a ticket for Radville, a hick town. There Nat leads a model existence as a churchman and man of means, literally having to fight off the women, including Josie Lockwood, the town banker's daughter. He meets Betty Graham, whose father has neglected his drugstore in his efforts to make gasoline out of crude oil. Nat comes to the rescue and revives the business. Later, Harry arrives, having depleted his wife's fortune, and tries to force Nat to marry Josie. But Nat, with the aid of a wax model, creates the impression of being fickle, thus breaking the engagement so he can marry Betty.
