Stranded

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H. Ulysses Watts is an old actor whose particular style of work has so far gone out of fashion that managers no longer have much use for him. At last Watts falls in the company of the Parisian Belles Variety Company, where he gives impersonations. His fellow-players have no particular sympathy with him, save one young girl, an acrobat, and a great friendship springs up between them. The manager of the company, Stoner, has taken a fancy to the girl and has decided to take the night's receipts at a certain town and flee, taking the girl with him. She refuses to go. During the performance that night she is so nervous that she falls from her trapeze and is injured. So Stoner flees alone, leaving the company stranded. Old Watts and the girl face the world together. At a nearby town they are giving a Shakespearian revival, and Watts takes her there in hope of getting work. He introduces her as his daughter. He finds plenty to do, and soon is living prosperously, while the little girl gets her first taste of a life of refinement. The young man who runs the local hotel falls in love with her and she with him. But just as things are running smoothly, Stoner turns up. He tries to blackmail Watts, telling him that unless he gives him money he will reveal the fact that Watts is not the girl's father, and also show up the girl to the staid townsfolk as a former acrobat who wore tights. The wedding guests are waiting. As Ulysses turns to enter the church, Stoner shoots him. Ulysses goes in and reassures the guests, and then comes a thrilling finish.