Summary
Orphaned Betsy Shelton, her porcelain dreams perched on the lip of Myrtleville’s dusty cup, is promised to Calvin Stone, a lawyer whose cravat is as starched as his conscience. Into this genteel hothouse lurches Dick, her feckless brother, trailing the sulfur of Manhattan scams. He shepherds Roger Enderleigh—confidence man extraordinaire, part peacock, part rat—into town, gilding him as a wartime Midas who will mint shells and jobs from thin air. Myrtleville’s elders, drunk on patriotism and profit, swallow the fairy tale whole. When the postal inspectors close in, Enderleigh readies his exit, suitcase stuffed with IOUs and other people’s futures; Dick, cornered, fires the bullet that turns the confidence man into carrion. Blood on the courthouse steps, Betsy’s reputation left fluttering like a torn petticoat, Calvin steps forward, sleeves rolled, to scour the stain from her name and drag Dick toward the flickering promise of justice.
Synopsis
Betsy Shelton, an orphan since early childhood, lives in Myrtleville with her aunt, and is engaged to marry Calvin Stone, a young lawyer. Betsy's brother, Dick, ostensibly working in New York to recover the family fortune, becomes involved with one Roger Enderleigh, a shyster promoter, who because of crooked dealings, is forced to flee from the postal authorities. He induces Dick to take him to Myrtleville, where Dick introduces Enderleigh as a prosperous banker promoting a munition plant, thus swindling the townsmen. The visit terminates in a vivid climax when the postal authorities track Enderleigh, who prepares to flee leaving Dick to bear the brunt. Dick kills Enderleigh and then asks for mercy on the plea that Enderleigh has ruined Betsy. Stone, true to the code of Southern chivalry, does not lose faith in his fiancée, and in the closing scenes of this photodrama, restores her good name and brings her erring brother to punishment.
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