La goutte de sang

• Watchlist

Justin Chenavat, chasing after a piece of paper that flew off his desk, meets a young factory worker who has just picked up the paper, and, struck by love at first sight, he marries her. Soon Mathilde gives birth to a little boy, Renaud. But Mathilde had another child, Richard, whose existence she hid from her husband on the advice of her mother, who was caring for the child. His wife's increasingly careless behavior attracts Chenavat's attention, and one day he follows her and discovers the truth. He keeps quiet. The two children grow up. Renaud, studious and hard-working, is a brilliant medical student. Thanks to his mother, Richard has found a job with Mr. Mirador, who owns lime kilns. But because he is hard-working and intelligent, he quickly becomes Mr. Mirador's best employee. Richard meets his mother in the forest, and one day Renaud surprises them. Their embarrassed attitude gives Renaud a horrible suspicion. They fight, and Renaud gets the upper hand. He leaves Richard for dead. Richard's disappearance from the factory leads to a search. Mathilde, in her grief, finally confesses the truth. A little girl says she met a masked man in the woods and bit him. It is not Renaud. Everything is resolved. The man, a certain Bernier, having found Richard wounded, locked him in a lime kiln that is to be fired up this morning. Renaud runs there and frees his brother, whom he asks for forgiveness. And so the family is reunited.