Out of the Past

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Rosa, Cyril Benton's Italian-American wife, is happy in the possession of a good husband, home and child. One night, during Benton's absence from home, Rosa is confronted by two midnight intruders, one of whom reveals himself as Giorgio, an old rejected lover of the girl, who threatens, in the event of her failure to turn over the contents of her husband's safe, to tell Benton how, years ago, his now bright and contented wife had killed her first husband, and so tarnish her name that even the legitimacy of her five-year-old child will be questioned. The cornered woman explains passionately that her crime was perpetrated in self-defense, that he, Giorgio, knows it having been an eye-witness. She begs him to spare her life, telling how she found a good home and sympathetic friends in Benton and his mother. The latter died and Benton ultimately married her. Rosa ends up her recital by frantically imploring Giorgio to go. The other intruder steps out at this point. He is Luigi, her father, whom she had thought killed in a brawl years ago, but who had, instead, recovered from the effects of the fight and joined Giorgio as a partner in crime. The old man's latent parental instincts are brought out, and he favors leaving the girl in peace. Giorgio, however, refuses to be deprived of his prey and tries to force the safe combination from Rosa. Her father, rushing to her assistance, engages in a stiletto duel with the rascal. Giorgio is killed, and at this juncture Benton returns unexpectedly. He rushes in and Rosa cries, "I managed to kill one, but the other overpowered me." Luigi. without a word, accepts the situation and surrenders as a common burglar for his daughter's sake. Luigi dies later in the hospital from wounds received in the duel.