Elga Pulaski and her brother Ossip live in Warsaw. They belong to a secret society whose goal is to liberate Poland and Russia from the Romanoffs. Elga is loved by Baron Jan Slozek. But Slozek is a spy who has Ossip and other members of the society arrested. When Slozek is slain, Ossip is the key suspect. He escapes to America with his sister. There, Elga meets Norman Hutchinson, and marries him without telling him her past. When Hutchinson learns the truth, he leaves Elga. Eventually, when Elga appeals to him, he sees the light.—[email protected]
Elga Pulaski, the orphaned daughter of noble parents, who resides in the city of Warsaw, with her sickly brother, Ossip, is a member of a secret revolutionary society, having for its aim the liberation of Poland and Russia from the yoke of the Romanoffs. She is loved by Baron Jan Slazek, an impoverished Polish nobleman. Ossip dislikes Slazek, who is in fact a spy in the employ of the Russian government, and who causes the arrest of Ossip and the members of the secret society. Slazek aids in the escape of Elga who, with a view to liberating those arrested, calls upon General Gourko, the Governor-General of the Province of Warsaw. She pays with her honor the price of the prisoners' liberty. Ossip goes to New York, where under the name of Gregory Sergeioff he earns his living as a piano teacher. Elga, of whom the Governor is enamored, and Who has become the subject of his unwelcome attentions, later goes to New York in the company of friends, through whom she meets Norman Hutchinson, the owner of an influential newspaper, and whose book on Modern Diplomacy she translates. Helen Hutchinson, Norman's sister, mistaking the glamour of a title for love, is married to Count De Fernac, whose marriage to Helen was prompted by her wealth. Helen, learning that De Fernac has a mistress who is the mother of his child, separates from him. Hutchinson and Elga marry. Elga introduces Ossip into her home in the guise of her piano teacher and under his assumed name. De Fernac, realizing Helen's nobility, learns to truly love her. He quarrels with his mistress and appeals to Hutchinson for aid in effecting a reconciliation between Helen and himself. Hutchinson is unsuccessful in his appeal to Helen, and enlists the. aid of Elga, who succeeds. Later she tells her brother, Ossip, of her success and is horrified to learn that Ossip loves Helen and had hoped to marry her in the event of her procuring a divorce. Elga is overcome by Ossip's declaration. Ossip takes her into his arms to comfort her, and in that position she is discovered by Hutchinson. Questioned by her husband, she confesses in the absence of Ossip, that he is her brother. Hutchinson compels her to tell the cause of the assumption of another name by Ossip, and Elga confesses that the price for the release of Ossip and the other members of the secret (revolutionary) society in Warsaw, was the surrender of herself to the Governor-General. She also confesses that Slazek, learning of her surrender to the Governor, threatened to make her shame known to the world and that in order to prevent his doing so she killed him. She also tells Hutchinson that Ossip in order to shield her, assumed the guilt of the murder. Hutchinson casts her out of his heart and home. She is leaving when Helen learns the cause of her going. Helen appeals to her brother, declaring that he requested her to forgive her husband, whose sin was the result of passion, and that he ought to forgive Elga whose sin was prompted by her sacrifice for others. Hutchinson realizes the justice of Helen's plea, begs Elga's forgiveness, assuring her that he will gladly surrender his appointment to the Cabinet which he has received, and that they will live in the safety of private life, and the assurance that there is one law for both
