1 Stella Maris, paralyzed from childhood, has been tenderly shielded from all the sordidness and misery of life. So she dwells serenely within a dream-world created by those who love her, unaware of sorrow, poverty or death. Mary Pickford 2 Teddy-- Captain of the Guard. by Himself (Courtesy of Mack Sennett) 3 Another little prisoner of fate is Unity Blake, 'The Ugly Duckling' of a London orphanage. Mary Pickford 4 Sir Oliver and Lady Blount-- Uncle and Aunt of Stella Maris. Ida Waterman Herbert Standing 5 John Risca, journalist - a cousin of Lady Blount - whose daily visits bring their sunshine to Stella Maris. Conway Tearle 6 "Who asks to be admitted to the Throne Room?" 7 "It is the Great High Belovedest, Your Ladyship." 8 "Blime me - it stinks elergant!" 9 Among the women who come to the orphanage looking for a child to adopt, is - Louisa Risca. Marcia Manon 10 "If this child behaves herself, she can have a good home with me." 11 "Don't tell me too suddinkly - I might die of joy!" 12 "I have been so happy ever since you described the beautiful castle where you live - Great High Belovedest." 13 "Some day, if I can ever walk - will you take me into the garden of your castle?" 14 "Tired of your wife, eh - sick and disgusted?" 15 "Six years of this hell and a man's spirit is broken. Ideals, hopes, ambitions - all are shattered." 16 "For the sake of the woman you used to be when I first knew you -" 17 "I ordered a fine, thick, juicy steak. Look at this miserable thing!" 18 "You shall always be well provided for, but - I will never return." 19 "Servants were always leaving and I needed a girl to help me with the housework." 20 "Then you ain't a mother, are you, ma'am?" 21 "Miss Stella Maris heard that Mr. Risca is here. She is asking for him." 22 "How beautiful this world is - and how good." 23 Comes Spring to lay its rarest blossoms in the lap of Stella Maris. 24 "Send her back to the orphanage." 25 "I did all I could to save you from this - but the laws are just." 26 "When you married this commoner's daughter, there were rumors of her - drinking." 27 "We were happy until she could no longer control this habit. Then - the Woman in her died and she became a Thing - a beastly - cruel Thing!" 28 "I cannot remain in London any longer." 29 "You must not leave Stella Maris. She needs you -" 30 "I say, did she ever 'urt you, too?" 31 "S'welp me! I'd 'ave swiped 'er on the 'ead, if I was you, sir!" 32 "Oh, sir - - might I 'ave some peppermint bulls' eyes?" 33 "I shall adopt her. It is the only way I can atone." 34 Six months later Unity is given a temporary home with Sir Oliver and Lady Blount. 35 "Queer little Unity - don't you notice a homely resemblance to Stella Maris?" 36 "Stroike me pink!" 37 "Lor' luv a duck! An' me a'restin' on satink!" 38 As the weeks pass by, Unity remains at the Blount home, pitied but unloved. 39 "I ain't said nothink to 'er, ma'am - not a bloomin' word." 40 "She's just a little villager - - employed by the day as a seamstress." 41 "I seen 'er - an' lor' lum me - but she's 'evingly!" 42 "What if that poor creature had spoken to Stella Maris ... of life - as she knows it?" 43 "I knew it was dangerous for Unity to be here - so I have persuaded Aunt Gladys to keep house for us." 44 A consultation of England's foremost surgeons. 45 "If we operate upon Stella Maris, there is a chance that she may walk." 46 "Though it may be years before she fully recovers - she will walk." 47 Aunt Gladys Linden a "Fuss-buttons" of the old school, who opens her home to John Risca and Unity. Josephine Crowell 48 "'Pon me soul, I never 'eard a sound, ma'am!" 49 "Unity never tells the truth. She should be punished for it." 50 "Children only lie through fear." 51 "'Onest - it broke itself, Sir." 52 "Don't swipe me, sir." 53 "You must never lie to us, Unity, because - we love you." 54 The surgeon's prophecy falls true. After three years Stella Maris - walks. 55 For John Risca's sake, Unity struggles long and hopelessly with an education. 56 For the woman who is still his wife John Risca re-opens his old home. 57 "Even to the prison they brought me the gossip that you had adopted the brat, Unity." 58 "- and then - there was a linking of your name with - Stella Maris." 59 "Don't you ever dare breathe that name again!" 60 The passing days bring their glow of health. 61 "- we've 'ad nothink to eat for days, Miss." 62 "Aunt Julia, give me two or three thousand pounds at once, please!" 63 "This woman and her children are dying of hunger! They have no home! It is dreadful - inconceivable!" 64 "My poor child - beggars are the dregs of civilization. And there are millions of them." 65 Little by little, life is revealed to Stella Maris as one tremendous conflict. 66 "It is cruel! It is unthink- able! Why was I not told that such conditions exist in the world?" 67 "These men are fighting for existence - for principle - and for the good of humanity." 68 "And yet I do not want to believe there are millions of strong, fine men called soldiers, who are trained, just to destroy their brothers' lives!" 69 "I am grateful for one ideal - you." 70 Longing to see John Risca's surroundings, Stella Maris pays a visit to the home of Aunt Gladys. 71 "Why, I remember you ...... the little seamstress!" 72 "Mister Risca is me guardian, now. We keeps 'ouse for 'im - me an' Aunt Gladys." 73 "I was so disappointed when he told me he had closed his beautiful castle and moved to this house." 74 "'e speaks often of you, Miss. 'e worships the ground you walks on." 75 "And I - I love him!" 76 "This is my little secret. So please do not tell him I have been here." 77 "An' I - I loves 'im!" 78 Romance - born of the moonlight. 79 "John - have you ever loved anyone?" 80 "I have loved dreams." 81 "And I have dreamed dreams - - of love." 82 "Why are you so unhappy, John?" 83 "Because - I love you!" 84 "I love Stella Maris and I can no longer lie to her, about - my wife." 85 "She has already suffered too many heartaches. I forbid a confession." 86 Stella Maris journeys to the "Deserted Castle" of John Riska - scheming to re-open it - for the happiness of two. 87 "Surely this - this cannot be John Risca's castle!" 88 "I am John Risca's wife." 89 "John - married - you! You - his wife!" 90 "It hurts to think that you - like all other things - - are a lie." 91 "I no longer pity the blind! All the ugliness of life is shut away from them." 92 "- and all its beauties!" 93 "Stella, darling - - my heart is breaking for you." 94 "Mine is broken." 95 "Wot - marry you, sir?" 96 "- an' me only a poor orphant, sir?" 97 By early winter the shadow that hangs over John Risca gathers into a storm cloud. 98 "There's crumpets an' marmalade, sir." 99 "- - an' winkles an' Sally Lun, sir." 100 "Poor little Unity - you are the only one who understands in what a vise my heart is wrung." 101 "As long as that woman lives - - he will never be free." 102 "By lying to shield me you have destroyed my happiness - and my faith in human nature." 103 "Do not expect Mr. Risca home until tomorrow night. I am taking him for a day's sail." 104 "Learn to forgive, Stella Maris. That was His Message to the World." 105 Dusk of the following day. 106 "For three years it 'as burned a scar on me 'eart." 107 "I am 'ere to warn you. Never 'urt Stella Maris again!" 108 "I shall keep on and on until I have broken her heart." 109 "I am beginning to realize that happiness is within ourselves." 110 "We found the girl, Unity - dead - beside the body of your wife." 111 "Unity's history is known to the police, so it is easy to figure her motive - revenge." 112 "She sacrificed herself and is gone. Only the dead know the great souls that pass from the earth." 113 "The year's at the spring, And day's at the morn;" * * * * * * "God's in His heaven - All's right with the world." THE ENDHome