The Girl and the Judge; or, A Terrible Temptation (1910)
In the parlor of a southern mansion a girl is seen scaled at the piano, idly drumming the keys, as if expecting someone. Her father is sitting on the veranda reading. Two rival suitors for the girl's hand arrive at about the same time and are shown into the parlor. She appears to favor each alike and they ask her to choose between one or the other just as her father enters the room, and she sidles up to him and intimates that this is her choice. Both arc discomfited. While the young lady is dismissing one caller, the other accompanies the father into his study, where he is shown a collection of antique firearms in the center of the table on which the weapons are displayed there also stands a large microscope. The young man here begs the father for the hand of his daughter, but is told that he first must win her heart, and loud words are spoken. The young man at last apologizes and departs. While he is in the next room, locking up his hat, gloves and riding whip, he hears a report of a gun and rushes bark into the study to find the father shot through the heart and a smoking pistol on the table. The daughter, her other suitor, who happens also to be the district judge, and the servants all rush in, and the natural inference is that the old man has been shot by the rival suitor. He vehemently protests his innocence, but the evidence is against him and he is placed under arrest. As the man is a friend of the judge, although his rival in love, the judge cannot believe it possible that a crime has been committed, and he sits down to try and solve the problem. As he does so, he accidentally places his hand under the microscope and receives a sharp burn. This sets him thinking. Is it possible that this could have discharged the pistol? He closes the doors and places some powder in the pan of the old pistol and he lays it down in its former position. In a moment there is a flash. The mystery is solved. He is about to rush out and proclaim the innocence of his rival when he stops and thinks, "No. Under the cloud of guilt he is no longer a rival. I am his judge and can be merciful, but the girl must be mine." His mind is still unchanged when the trial takes place, and when the jury finds the prisoner guilty of murder the judge pronounces the sentence. One month later, as the judge is calling on the girl, she shows him a letter from the mother of the condemned man: "Dearest Virginia: All hope is lost. I begged the Governor on my knees to pity the agony of a mother's breaking heart and pardon my son, but he refused. My boy's innocent young life will be taken." At sight of this the judge breaks down and confesses to the girl that his rival was innocent, but that his great love for her tempted him to conceal the proof. This he now feverishly explains to her, as he shows her the microscope and the position of the pistol, and they both hasten to the Governor's office, where the mother is making a last appeal. The Governor has again refused, when the judge enters and explains to the Governor, who hastily writes a pardon, which the judge himself takes to the prisoner. And here comes the anti-climax to this absorbing story. The girl has followed and congratulates the prisoner on his release, but she realizes that now is the time she must make her choice. As the judge bows his head in humiliation and turns away she realizes the depth of a love that had tempted the judge from the path of honor, and placing her hand in his she tells him that he is her choice, while the discharged prisoner sadly gives them his congratulations.
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GenresDrama
Short
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