Gilded Youth
In the Latin quarter of Paris live "Pinkie" Cochrane and his two pals, Sam Wellbridge and Mac MacTavish. The three are struggling artists and take turns using Marie as their model. Suddenly Marie disappeared and nothing is heard from her until a year later, when a baby is delivered to their studio with a note from their model asking them to care for the child, as by the time the note reaches them she declares she will be dead. She also begs them to call the child Victor. Twenty years pass. The three pals are now well-to-do artists. Victor, the baby, has grown to be a young man and bears the name of Cochrane-MacTavish. Victor is on the eve of leaving for a vacation and the three pals, in order to start him out right in life, write him that on his twenty-first birthday they will open an account of $5,000 for him. He hastens into the room to thank them for their kindness and meet Olive, who is Cochrane's niece, and her mother. They are childhood friends and it is hoped by all they will some time marry. Victor arrives at the mountain resort and becomes very popular, especially when it is learned that he is the adopted son of Cochrane and MacTavish. At the same hotel Angelina and her companion, Peckoff, are stopping. They are social pirates and determine to enslave Victor. It is easy for Angelina, with her knowledge of the world, to win the boy's admiration. She returns to the city and he follows her, and in his new-found infatuation forgets all about Olive. Back at the old home the three pals are planning a big blow-out for Victor's twenty-first birthday anniversary. The guardians are forced to go on with the dinner without him, as Angelina has prevailed upon the boy to have dinner with her that night. Victor returns home in the early morning hours very much the worse for drink, and tells Cochrane of his infatuation for Angelina. Cochrane determines to break up the boy's infatuation and begins taking Angelina about. One day when Victor makes a call at her house, he is refused admittance, and forcing his way in, finds his guardian, Cochrane, with his arms about Angelina. He strikes the old man and leaves in a fury. A good size check disposes of Angelina and her companion for good and when Victor returns to the house. MacTavish and Wellbridge both begin to malign Cochrane. This is too much for Victor and he hastens out to find Cochrane and apologize. On the way he sees Olive and his old love for her returns. He then invites her to a dinner that night, which he says his guardians are giving in honor of his engagement to this girl. As the story ends the three artists and Victor and Olive are having a royal celebration, and things for the future look very bright.
