The Scorpion's Sting

Discovered by Marston in the act of robbing the safe, Mann, the crook, shoots and slays him. The murderer escapes, carrying with him a casket containing jewels. So strongly do circumstances point to Lyda, Marston's daughter, as the slayer, that she is tried for the crime. Despite the evidence of the butler and other servants, who tell of a violent quarrel between Lyda and her father just prior to the shooting, the girl is acquitted. In her anxiety to get away from the scene of her father's death, Lyda sells the house and goes to the country. Fate leads her to the same hotel in which Mann is hiding. The two fall in love. Lyda, consenting to be Mann's wife, is horrified to find her mother's ring as a betrothal gift. Something within warns her that she is face to face with her father's slayer. Love has caused Mann to repent of his criminal career. The murderer resolves to take Lyda out rowing and while on the water reveal his past and beg her to help him lead a better life. At the same time, the thought of her father's untimely end fills Lyda with desire for revenge. She decides to induce Mann to take her out rowing. Once on the lake, it is her intention to inform the murderer of her identity and of her knowledge of his crime. Then while he is overcome with surprise and terror, she plans to upset the boat and perish in the water with him. Mann finds Lyda waiting for him on the dock. A moment's hesitation, and the girl accepts his invitation to go rowing with him. Propelled by Mann's vigorous strokes, the boat glides out toward the center of the lake. (The National Board of Censorship request that patrons send in their ideas as to how the picture should end to the Board's address, 70 Fifth Avenue, New York City.)