Plot That Failed, or, When Men Conspire

Excerpt: "“I feared you would not come.” The speaker, a beautiful woman of two or three and thirty, half reclined on a sofa, in an elegant apartment. A gentleman, rather old, had entered the room. He was what he looked to be—one of New York’s money kings. “It is for the last time, Louise,” he said, toying with his watch guard. “And why for the last time?” For a second the woman appeared downcast, and then, rising to her feet, she said, pleadingly: “You swore that you would always love me.” “Yes,” he thundered, “but then I was not aware that the shy and modest Louise Calhoun was a common adventuress. Truly, you would be a nice woman to grace my home and be a second mother to my orphan children!” “I shall force you to keep your promise!” The woman’s eyes blazed and she clinched her hands until the nails sank deep into the flesh. “Force me—you will force me!” exclaimed the gentleman. “Those were the words I used, Hilton Field.” “Why, you are a criminal.”"