The Other Side of the Door

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John Montgomery, young, rich and of fine family, is eagerly sought after by the elite of old San Francisco. He and Ellie Fenwick meet for a moment at a hall, and are mutually attracted. Montgomery's impulsiveness and generosity cause him to fall an easy prey to Willie Felton, leader of a fast set, who introduces the young man to Martin Rood's gambling house. Rood, seeing in Montgomery a lamb to be shorn, quickly fleeces him of a large part of his fortune and then persuades him to invest the rest in a bogus mining deal. The young San Franciscan finds himself penniless. Meanwhile, he has met Carlotta Valencia, mistress of Rood, who develops for Montgomery the first real affection she has ever felt for any man. He is infatuated with her beauty and cleverness, and when he begins to hear evil stories against her, he stoutly defends this Spanish woman of doubtful arts. Montgomery's own reputation is sullied because of his associates, and only Ellie Fenwick continues to have faith in his inherent nobility. She believes Montgomery more sinned against than sinning. Her father, however, will not permit her to have anything to do with the man she loves. Montgomery, denied the companionship of the one woman who might have redeemed him, turns for consolation to Carlotta. One morning early, Ellie is returning from the market to prepare a birthday breakfast for her father. Passing Rood's gambling house, she hears a pistol shot. Through the swinging doors of the bar-room, the proprietor of the resort falls out dead. Montgomery, with a smoking revolver in his hand, leaps out after him, and the next instant, flinging away the weapon, has fled. Ellie, panic-stricken, hurries home, where she tells her father and District Attorney Dingley what she has seen. Nobody else has witnessed the incident, and Ellie, violently against her own will, is obliged to serve as chief witness for the state. Carlotta lures the girl to her house and tries to bribe her into silence. When this fails, she attempts to induce her to drink a cup of poisoned wine. Ellie, however, is on her guard. Her father has made her feel that it is her duty to God and to society to testify against the man she loves. Montgomery is convicted of the murder. As he is leaving the courthouse a band of Mexican horsemen, hirelings of Carlotta, enact his rescue. He and the Spanish woman plot to flee the country together. A chance meeting with Ellie, however, causes Montgomery to resolve to leave the city alone and start life over again. He writes Carlotta his intention. Ellie is driving him in her carriage to the borders of the town when both are arrested by the sheriff's posse. The girl flees, taking refuge in Carlotta's house. She finds the beautiful Spaniard sitting erect in a chair, dead. A written confession in her own hand reveals that it was she who murdered Rood. Later, Perez, Carlotta's servant, corroborates the story, throwing light on Montgomery's heroism in shielding the guilty woman. Montgomery is exonerated. He begins life anew, with Ellie as his wife.