The Salamander

Summary

A sylvan sylph, Dore Baxter, hears asphalt’s siren beneath the wind’s hymn; her patrimony—an Edenic tract bequeathed by a dying grandmother—vanishes in the talons of Sassoon, urbine predator masquerading as benefactor. Bereft, she follows the scent of streetlights, stowing away with a vagabond theatre troupe whose footlights sketch new constellations across her innocence. Within that roving microcosm, golden heir Garry Lindaberry—part patron, part pilgrim—becomes enamored of her moss-bright naïveté. Fate choreographs a masquerade: Sassoon, financier of the company’s revels, confronts the waif he thought crushed; his wife, the troupe’s haughty diva, senses the tremor of recognition. What ensues is no mere revenge but a chiaroscuro waltz—Dore the flame, Sassoon the moth—played out in drawing-room shadow, box-seat whisper, midnight park. She feigns capitulation, coils silk around his voracity, then yanks the loom so that his own confederates ensnare him. In a vertiginous montage of forged deeds, swapped valises, and breathless pursuits, property reverts to its rightful keeper and love consigns the heroine back to the nexus of leaf and lamplight.

Synopsis

Dore Baxter is a woodland nymph, lover of nature, yet feeling the call and the urge of the city. Her grandmother's property, to which Dore is heir, holds forth promise of future wealth. One day Dore asks about her parents and the grandmother tells how they were duped by Sassoon, "The Wolf." During this very conversation grandmother attempts to bring forth the deed to her property and it is gone. The shock brings about the old lady's death. Shortly afterwards Dore is evicted by Sassoon, who claims to have bought the land from the grandmother. Dore determines to visit the city and find Sassoon. She falls in with a group of traveling players, who take pity on her and carry her with them under their protection. The angel of the company, one Garry Lindaberry, wealthy and handsome, falls in love with this simple country maid. Later Sassoon invites the company, including Dore, to an evening revel. Dore starts at the mention of the name. So, too, does the leading lady, who in reality, is Sassoon's wife. Now begins Dore's game with Sassoon, in which she tempts him on, only to fool him, in which she enters the flames without being burned. Finally, Sassoon steps into the clutches of his fellow conspirators, which leads on to a rapid climax that restores her property to Dore and Dore to Garry Lindaberry.