The Broken Spell

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Bob's father dies, leaving his entire estate to Bob. The young man, immensely wealthy, is looked upon by everybody in the county in which he lives as a very desirable husband. Bob and Mary, the pretty country miss, are sweethearts. Valerie Monroe, a worldly woman from the city, is out automobiling in the country and stops for refreshments at the farm of Mary's people. There she meets Bob, and upon being informed that he is a very wealthy young man, designs to get some of his fortune. She leaves and Bob sees her to her automobile. She invites him to visit her in the city and he seems to have fallen to her charms. Later he determines to visit the city and try and see a little of life outside of the hum-drum country existence he has always lived. He visits Valerie and, being smitten with her beauty, falls in love with her. She works a game on him and writes a letter to herself which informs her that the mortgage on her father's homestead is due and about to be foreclosed unless two thousand dollars is paid at once. She shows Bob the letter purporting to have been written by her father to her and he offers to give her the money. She demurely refuses, hut eventually accepts. She managed things so that upon each of Bob's visits her child Rose has been absent from the house and he never suspects that she is a married woman and has a growing child. Bob, walking along the street the next day, saves a. child from being run over by a runaway horse. He then continues on his way to Valerie's home. Previous to this he had written Mary that he liked the city exceptionally well and telling her he did not think that he would return to the country. The poor girl is nearly heartbroken. Bob arrives at Valerie's house and does not mention anything about the runaway. The child returns while Bob is there, and, upon seeing him, informs her mother that Bob saved her life. Valerie thanks Bob as only a mother can, but the poor boy, enamored as he was, only to discover that the recipient of his honest intentions was a married woman who has used him as a plaything to extort money from, rushes from the house. Just as he is about to leave, Valerie's maid arrives and gives him a letter from Valerie. She writes that she is more than grateful for his action in saving the only being on earth that she really has any love for, and returns his money. Bob hastens home and finding Mary still waiting for him, clasps her in his arms and vows never to leave her or his country home again.