“Jefferson Stockton, of San Francisco, president of The Transcontinental Railway Company, loves his work and is proud of his success, but is still fonder and prouder of his pretty daughter, Virginia, and his beautiful young wife, Diana, Virginia’s stepmother. The Stuart-Lawrences of New York, members of the old ‘Knickerbocker Aristocracy,' are also fond and proud of each other, but perhaps prouder still of the blue blood that runs in their veins, so when they hear that their son, Stuyvesant Lawrence, is engaged to Virginia Stockton, daughter of a San Francisco family of ‘rich nobodies,’ father Lawrence immediately takes the train West to put a stop to the affair. Virginia has another suitor, the Marquis of Normandale, a poor but titled Englishman, but when he proposes for Virginia’s hand, Jefferson Stockton laughs at his pretensions; still, he tells the Marquis that he will enter into another business agreement with him. Jefferson contracts to take the Marquis’ house in London, with servants, furniture, and the Marquis himself for a handsome sum on a year’s lease. The needy nobleman consents, and the papers are signed, for Jefferson Stockton, wishing to satisfy his wife’s love and ambition for society, knows that the entrance to New York’s fashionable circle is best gained through the gateway of Europe, and he intends to stay there until his beautiful new home in New York has been finished. Then, equipped with the prestige given by foreign residence and titled acquaintances, the Stocktons will be able to take their place among the aristocracy of the great American metropolis, for which his young and beautiful wife Diana so longs. The elder Lawrence arrives in San Francisco and interviews both his son and Stockton, denying his consent to the betrothal, upon which both Stockton and his daughter agree that the engagement be temporarily canceled. With aching heart, Stuyvesant Lawrence takes his departure for New York, and the unhappy little Virginia Stockton goes to Europe with her family, both living only until the time when Stuyvesant may be able to win his parents over. But Stuyvesant’s mother intercepts Virginia’s letters to her son, and at length his letters to Virginia cease, each thinking the other faithless. Diana is for a time radiantly happy in the baronial halls of the Marquis, while Jefferson Stockton views her pleasure with fond amusement, though immensely bored by it all himself. A friend of the Marquis, Prince Emil Von Haldenwald, a penniless roué, falls in love with Diana, and she feels the strange magnetism of his keen and admiring gaze, even while she resents it. The Prince sues for the hand of Virginia, who, believing he loves her and that Stuyvesant is to be married to another, consents, and they are married against Jefferson Stockton’s wish. The night of the marriage, Virginia hears that Stuyvesant is in Europe and is still true to her, but learns of the interception of her letters too late. While the Prince’s ruined estates are being repaired, Virginia and he live with the Stocktons, and one night, during Jefferson Stockton’s absence, the Prince enters Diana Stockton’s room and attempts to embrace her. Half-hypnotized, she is struggling weakly, when suddenly they hear her husband’s return. The Prince hides on the balcony, but is discovered by Stockton, who sends him from their home. The Stocktons’ happiness seems shattered, but the hand of a kindly Fate at length lifts the pall of unhappiness that European aristocracy has spread for them and the drama has a happy ending.”—28 Nov 1914 Moving Picture World