On the Stroke of Five

There was nothing particularly romantic about her love story. She was a poor girl and had two suitors, both humble working men. The man she chose was the more worthy of the two, and loved her fondly. The other man, a brutish individual of ungovernable passions, became involved in an altercation with his foreman and savagely attacked him. Through the efforts of the successful suitor he was captured and, as his reputation was bad, was sent to States Prison for a long term. When the prisoner was set free, eight years later, his first desire was to find the woman he loved and the man he hated. With very little difficulty he located them, for they had married and settled down in the quarter where they had lived most of their lives. The ex-convict rejoiced to find that his foe had met with an accident, was helplessly paralyzed, and while he still lived, could not move nor speak; only his eyes showed that he was alive. Calling at the tiny cottage, the convict gloated over his foe, but was careful to conceal his feelings from the wife. In the presence of her or her little girl, he was the sadly sympathetic friend. When alone with the helpless man, he gloated over him, and whispered insults into his ear. The invalid was unable to retort or complain, he could only gaze at the man, and wish that his strength might come back so that he could defend himself. The convict found that his love for the woman still existed, and he proposed that she elope with him. She rejected his advances with scorn, and his love turned to hate. He brooded over what he regarded as his wrongs, and planned a fiendish revenge. He called at the house, pretending great friendship, and presented the little girl with a music box. She was delighted, and the mother was also pleased. Then, while the two were playing with the new toy, the convict tiptoed over to the paralytic and whispered to him that the music box really contained an infernal machine, and that it had been cunningly set by clockwork to go off on the stroke of five. Then he pointed to the clock, which marked fifteen minutes of the hour, bid a pleasant farewell to the family he designed to destroy, and departed. The woman and child suspected nothing wrong; the man who knew was powerless to say anything. He suffered mortal agony as time sped on, and he was unable to warn them. Finally his little daughter came over to "cheer up poor papa," and noticed his intense gaze. He looked from her to her blocks, which were on the table at his elbow. The two had often "played spelling." The girl would speak a word, then bold up blocks. When she picked the right letter, the man would blink his eyes, and the little girl knew how to spell many words, having learned it in this unique way. This pastime was now put to a stern use, and the man supposed to be helpless was able to convey the warning. The woman hurled the bomb from the window in time, and it rolled down the steep hill to the feet of the ex-convict, who was waiting there for the explosion that meant the death of three innocent people. He had no time to escape, and the fate he had meant for others became the frightful death that Providence dealt him. - IMDb