One Wonderful Night

Eight hours is not a very long time, yet it completely changed the lives of a girl and a man. A man's life was fanned out by fate, criminals were caught and punished, and a battle of wits took place, while the mystery baffled New York City. The Earl of Valletort insisted that his daughter, Lady Hermione, marry a Hungarian Count. The Count saw a clear path to the throne of his country. Money was necessary; he must have wealth; thus his choice of Lady Hermione. The Earl himself had no money. When his wife passed away she left every dollar, and a big estate it was, to her daughter. The Count promises to do wonders for the girl if the latter would arrange to have his daughter marry him. The Earl tries to force his daughter to marry the Count, but he was not the man of her heart, so she escaped to America. She considered the marriage vile, and would avoid it at any cost. She took with her a plotting Frenchman, who was known to her father. She was not aware of this at the time, so when she arrived in America, she decided to marry him. (He agreed to protect her with his name, nothing more.) She had arranged to marry Jean de Courtois to escape the Hungarian nobleman, disappear suddenly and later secure a divorce. De Courtois tries every method imaginable and every excuse ever invented to delay the wedding. He finally meets a newspaper reporter, whom he had met in America before, and gives him the whole story, but not his permission to use it. De Courtois promises he will give his consent in a day or so, and keeps the scribe waiting so long that he becomes disgusted. A few days later the scheming Hungarian gets in touch with a few questionable characters, who make their headquarters on the East Side in New York. He instructs them to watch de Courtois. Henry Hunter, the newspaper reporter in mention, insisted that de Courtois allow the wedding to take place immediately, but the latter complained of having lost the license. The Count's men have learned of this through their leader, Antoine. They also were aware of the fact that Hunter was to get another. John Delancey Curtis, with his friend, Howard Devar, arriving from China, register at the Central Hotel, and, unknowingly, secures a room quite near that occupied by de Courtois. That night the Count is overpowered by the Hungarian's paid men, bound and gagged to await the arrival of the newspaper reporter. Hunter arrives and just as he steps from the taxicab, is killed. Curtis is the only eyewitness. The police dema