Summary
In the opulent, morally ambiguous underbelly of 1920s New York, Emil Cheraud, a figure of polished vice, cultivates a clandestine gambling empire while his daughter, Pauline, remains cloistered in a Parisian finishing school. Her eventual return shatters his carefully constructed façade, as she implores him to abandon his illicit enterprise. He acquiesces, pledging to dismantle his dominion by the stroke of midnight. Yet, the promise remains unfulfilled, brutally interrupted by the chilling discovery of his lifeless form in the library, mere moments past the appointed hour. Driven by an unyielding desire for retribution and a thirst for justice, Pauline, with a temerity far beyond her years, seizes control of her father’s gambling den. She transforms it from a site of illicit pleasure into a meticulously crafted trap, a stage upon which she intends to ensnare her father’s killer. The canvas of suspicion is painted with three ardent suitors, each entwined with the Cheraud legacy: one, burdened by an insurmountable debt to the deceased; another, whose boastful declarations once threatened violence for Pauline's affection; and Jimmie Dreen, the man who holds Pauline’s heart, tragically implicated by a tell-tale coat button discovered at the scene. As the narrative tightens its grip, the weight of circumstantial evidence presses heavily upon Jimmie, casting a pall over their nascent love. However, the labyrinthine plot takes an unexpected, almost melodramatic turn when Pierre, Emil’s long-serving retainer, confesses to the patricide, spurred by the devastating news of his impending dismissal. This sudden revelation, a deus ex machina of sorts, meticulously untangles the Gordian knot of suspicion, allowing Pauline to finally embrace a future with Jimmie, free from the shadow of paternal vengeance.
Synopsis
While his daughter Pauline attends school in France, Emil Cheraud establishes a fashionable gambling-house in New York. Upon her return, Pauline begs her father to close the establishment, and he promises to do so that very night at midnight, but when she enters his library shortly after the appointed hour, she finds him dead. Determined to bring the murderer to justice, Pauline assumes control of the gambling-house, hoping to trap the criminal into a confession. Three men are suspected, all of them in love with Pauline: one who owed her father a fortune; another who boasted that he would kill a man to win her affections; and a third, Jimmie Dreen, whose coat button was found at the scene of the crime. The evidence points strongly to Jimmie, with whom Pauline is in love, until Pierre, Emil's servant, confesses that he killed his employer upon learning that he had lost his job. Much relieved, Pauline agrees to marry Jimmie.
