The Diamond from the Sky (1915)

Episode 1: "A Heritage of Hate" Tied hand and foot to a stake, around which savage redmen danced, their war whoops piercing the stillness of the calm Virginia forest, Sir Arthur Stanley, soldier of fortune, and scion of the noble house of Stanley of Warwickshire, England, resigned himself to the fate he knew he could not escape. Suddenly the shouting ceased; the dancing halted. In the heavens, far off, as Stanley and the Indians stood in silent awe, there appeared a great ball of red. Nearer and nearer it came, leaving in its wake a great cloud of smoke. Then, with a mighty thud, the meteor struck the ground a short distance from the stake. Sir Arthur stood, free, amazed, as the savages crowded about him in various attitudes of homage. He was free, they told him, the Great Spirit having so willed, by the coming of the ball of fire. A week later, when about to depart, Sir Arthur paused to examine the meteorite that saved him. Before him, embedded in the igneous mass, was a great shining something. With his knife he quickly dug it from the rock, a diamond. The diamond from the sky; it became thereafter a charm against all harm to those of the house of Stanley who possessed it. Two centuries and a half later the Stanley family, then represented by Judge Lamar Stanley and Col. Arthur Stanley, his first cousin, held sway in Fairfax County, the first coveting power, as represented by politics and property, the latter seeking nothing more than a son and heir, that he might retain possession of the diamond from the sky and bring unto his house the earldom of England. Judge Stanley was the father of a son, to whom the diamond and the title would fall unless the Colonel's wife about to become a mother, delivered unto him a male child. At the very hour the Colonel's wife sacrificed her life bringing a daughter into the world. Hagar, wife of Harding, the nomad and gypsy who pitched his tent on the Colonel's property, became the mother of a son. Disappointed, Colonel Stanley decided he must supplant his baby daughter with a male child. Mr. Lee, a righteous man with an elastic conscience, but a friend of many years' standing, agreed to participate in the fraud. Within a few hours, Harding, for a bag of gold, had torn his son from its mother and delivered it to Dr. Lee. Thus the baby boy, son of a social outcast, became the heir of the earldom and the diamond, while Judge Lamar sought to bury his chagrin in the wine cup. Four years later, Hagar, mother of the pseudo heir, returned to Fairfax, seeking to fill her great heartache, in the recovery of her son. Silently she stole through the window into the Stanley home to behold the master of the house alone. With a cry, the Colonel leaped to his feet, faced her and then, with a gasp, fell dead at her feet. Clutching the diamond from the sky, the vengeful mother placed it in her bodice and hurried to the room where her child slept. Revenge filled her heart. In place of her son, whom she left to enjoy the wealth and position of which she deemed him worthy, she took with her the Colonel's baby girl. And in the years that followed, Esther never for a moment doubted that the gypsy woman was her mother. Dr. Lee, who kept his secret well, consented, at Hagar's request, to adopt and rear Esther, only with the understanding that the diamond from the sky be placed in his keeping. Hagar agreed, and within a few months the youths of Fairfax, were rivaling each other for the favors of this beautiful girl. Blair Stanley, son of Judge Stanley, now dead, and Arthur Stanley were her favorites, with the usurper of the diamond and title occupying the more favorable position. The enmity between them, already of long years' standing, grew apace, increased by the oft-repeated story told Blair by his mother, concerning the diamond from the sky, then held, it was generally believed, by Arthur Stanley. Blair swore the diamond would be his. Leaving the home of Dr. Lee one afternoon, Blair paused to peer through the window opening on the veranda. His eyes bulge and great beads of sweat covered his forehead as he placed his face close to the pane, riveting his gaze on the form of the white-haired doctor, seated at the table with the diamond from the sky before him.