Overview

The story has to do with David Benson, a theatrical producer who, having acquired a wealthy financial "angel," is rehearsing a drama. This angel, Wilbur Craig, is in love with Gladys Earle, the star. Into their lives comes Miss Earle's former husband and leading man, Austin Jewett, now a derelict. No one, says Benson, can play the hero except Jewett! and Jewett, disheveled and slightly inebriated, is therefore engaged, much to the embarrassment of his former wife. The sole exit is a trap-door on the stage of the theater, where a mysterious stranger is sent to his death by a pistol fired from the stage entrance. The murder is done twice: as a play within a play, and again as a real thing. When the haze is lifted, the real murderer is revealed.