The Span of Life (1914)

Dunstan Leech, an unscrupulous gambler, victim of drugs, plans to marry his mother's ward, Kate Heathcote, that he may hide the embezzlement of funds entrusted to his care. His mother summons him from London to their country home, where he discovers Kate to be in love with Richard Blunt, who is tutoring his crippled half-brother Cecil. Unable to make Kate listen to his love, Leech plans to kill Cecil to gain possession of the money which will revert to him upon Cecil's death. He injects morphine into a prize bunch of grapes which is being saved for Cecil's birthday. The boy eats the grapes, dying from the effects. Leech's mother, Mrs. Jelf, determines to ruin Blunt in Kate's eyes by making it appear that a robbery has been committed and having the money discovered upon his person. The plot fails, and Blunt, whose suspicion had been aroused in connection with Cecil's death, leaves the house. Determined to stay in the neighborhood to protect Kate, he visits the keeper of the lighthouse, where he is followed and trapped in a closet by Leech. Leech, who is in a half-drugged condition, is pursued by the vision of the murdered Cecil and upsets the lamp in the lighthouse, causing it to catch fire. The rescuers, guided by the burning building, reach Blunt in time to effect his escape. Upon recovering, Blunt urges Kate to immediate marriage, and they depart for the diamond mines of South Africa, accompanied by three ex-acrobats. Leech later follows and with a band of Arabs abducts Kate and her child. They are rescued by Blunt and the three acrobats but later, when upon the point of recapture, the acrobats form a span of life by throwing their bodies across a chasm, over which Kate escapes. Blunt is made prisoner in an Arab camp. Kate, believing him to be dead, returns to England. With the assistance of a Christian Arab girl Blunt manages to escape and makes his way to an English army post. In England Leech's mother, finding herself upon the point of death, summons Kate to her bedside, divine her a key to a silver box, indicating that through its contents she can protect herself against Leech. Leech learns of her possession of the box and determines to steal the evidence it contains. He goes to her room at night and is horror-stricken when he discovers the hypodermic needle left in the grapes years ago, which had been found by his mother. Blunt, arriving at the house, is startled by Leech's cry of horror. He hastens to Kate's room and overpowers Leech, who tries to escape, but is confronted with the phantom of his drug-crazed mind by the spirit of Cecil. Before anyone can prevent him, he takes an over-dose of morphine and dies, thus bringing Kate and Blunt together.