"The Web of Destiny" Blair Stanley, still infatuated with the unscrupulous Vivian Marston, persisted, despite his mother's views to the contrary, that he would marry no one else. Mrs. Stanley decided Blair must marry Esther Stanley, whom she knew to be rightfully entitled, not only to the estate of her father, the late Colonel Arthur Stanley, but the diamond from the sky. "Blair, you must marry," she pleaded, as she prepared for the reception of the guests coming to attend the garden party to be given that afternoon in honor of her son's return from a "business" trip to the coast. "I demand that you listen to me in this instance. Forget the past. Esther loves you. She has told me so." Blair, always willing to please his mother - when he was to gain personally - consented. Unsuccessful in his efforts to sell the Stanley secret to those he deemed financially interested enough to pay his price, Luke Lovell decided to hunt up Arthur. Penniless, he stole aboard a west-bound freight leaving Richmond; but a brakeman ordered him off before he had ridden very far. Semi-delirious, the gypsy stumbled along the tracks and on across the sand, falling unconscious amid a growth of prairie grass. How long he lay there Lovell did not know. As he woke, he found himself staring at a coiled snake preparing to strike. Beside it was a shining something - the diamond from the sky. As he reached for it the reptile struck. Lovell groaned and sank in a heap. Arthur, returning to the ranch, found him there that night. His crude western treatment successfully held off the spread of the poison from the bite. For hours, Arthur remained at the stricken man's side, ministering to his wants, and when about to depart - Lovell having fully recovered - Arthur placed in his hand a roll of bills, securing from Lovell his promise that he would keep his whereabouts to himself. An Indian and his squaw, the latter with her papoose, slowly making their way across the prairie, stopped to pitch their camp for the night near the skeleton of the horse. And there it was she found a golden chain at one end of which gleamed a great white stone. Its value meant nothing to these children of the plains, excepting that it afforded the laughing papoose a new plaything. Arthur realizing that the oil wells of California represented an excellent investment decided to desert the ranch. On his way across the continent, Arthur penned a guarded letter to Esther, addressing it to Mrs. Stanley's colored maid. It was a sultry day and Esther, her head afire, sought the solitude of her room. There it was the maid found her and delivered Arthur's letter. Esther read and re-read it. Insulted and pestered by the unwelcome attention of Blair and the spying of his mother, she determined to seek out Arthur and tell him all. That night, by means of a pre-arranged signal, Quabba, ever faithful servant, waited as she clambered down the vines, stretching from her window. Supported by her loyal servant, she hurried across the lawn, stepped into a waiting cab and, with Quabba, hurried to the station, the first move in search of the one she loved. Moving Picture World, July 24, 1915
See Chapter One for cast list.
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