The Red Woman
Summary
From the hallowed halls of an elite Eastern institution, Marie Temosach, a young woman of Indigenous heritage, emerges adorned with academic laurels, only to find the gates of societal acceptance firmly shut. Retreating to the familiar embrace of her homeland, she finds herself an object of desire for Sancho, a menacing cattle rustler whose crude overtures she resolutely spurns. Simultaneously, a continent away, Morton Dean, a scion of privilege with a penchant for profligacy, finds himself ensnared in a cynical engagement with the calculating social climber, Dora Wendell. His father's deathbed decree, a bifurcated will initially leaving him only mines, then promising the remainder after a six-month interval, sends Dora scurrying, convinced of his penury. Dean, adrift, flees to Mexico, where destiny intertwines his path with Marie's, sparking an undeniable, mutual attraction. This burgeoning romance ignites Sancho's latent animosity, culminating in a brutal skirmish where Dean emerges victorious, cementing Sancho’s vow of vengeance. Marie's prescient warnings fall on deaf ears as Dean, wounded in a subsequent attack, is spirited away to her secluded cabin. There, amidst declarations of love, Marie symbolically renounces her ancestral deity, elevating Dean to a new, personal godhead. The narrative intensifies with Dora's return, her avarice rekindled by the revelation of Dean's true inheritance. Colluding with Sancho, she descends upon Marie’s sanctuary. In a stroke of desperate ingenuity, Marie disguises Dean as her revered idol, placing him on the pedestal, a ruse that successfully blinds the searching pair. A heart-wrenching sacrifice follows, as Marie, for Dean’s supposed good, compels him to return to Dora. Yet, love proves an inexorable force; Marie, tormented by his absence, sleepwalks into his arms. The peace is shattered when Sancho reappears, laying claim to Marie’s newborn child, asserting paternity from that very night of somnambulistic wanderings. As a forced marriage looms, Dean dramatically reclaims his love, leading to a violent confrontation where Sancho meets his demise at the hands of law enforcement.
Synopsis
Marie Temosach, an Indian girl, graduates with honors at an eastern college, but is not received socially, and is glad to return to her old home. She is coveted by Sancho, a cattle thief, but she rebuffs his advances. Morton Dean, a spendthrift, is trapped into an engagement with Dora Wendell, a society adventuress. His father threatens to disinherit him, and dies within a short time, leaving one will bequeathing only his mines to Morton, and a supplementary will, specifying that the rest of his estate should go to Morton after six months. Dora refuses to marry Morton, believing him penniless, and he goes to Mexico, where he and Marie become mutually attracted to each other. Sancho becomes jealous, and after being worsted in a fight with Morton, swears revenge. Marie warns Morton, but he tells her to have no fear. Later Morton is wounded and rescued by Marie, who takes him to her cabin. They declare their love, and Marie, telling Morton that he shall henceforth be "her god," destroys the idol she has previously worshiped. Dora, learning that Morton has not been disinherited, follows him. She meets Sancho, and they go to Marie's cabin. To save Morton, Marie paints him to represent the idol and places him on the pedestal. Sancho and Dora, not suspecting this ruse, search the cabin, but cannot find him. Marie forces Morton to go back to the white girl, despite his protests. Later, haunted by visions of him, she rises in the night, and goes onward and onward, as in a dream, until she is in the embrace of the man she loves. Sancho again annoys Marie, who proudly shows him her baby. He tells her he is the child's father, that the night she walked in her sleep she came to his hut. He goes for a priest and tells Marie he has come to marry her honorably. Just as the ceremony is about to be performed, Morton returns and claims her as his wife, and Sancho is killed by the officers in a skirmish that ensues.
