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Painter Ned Templeton takes his lover Joan Treghenna from Devon to Paris, where illness and poverty lead her to prostitute herself to obtain his food and medicine. After the pair move to New York and Ned becomes successful, he abandons Joan for another woman; Joan later rejects him and resolves to return to England.
Act I (The Italian room of the Crosby mansion, New York City, evening.) The play opens just after dinner has finished and the guests are coming into the Italian room. Mrs. Crosby assures Will and Nell everyone is already aware of their impending marriage, but Edward Wales won't congratulate them. He has reason, he tells an upset Will. As the other guests stroll in, Pollock announces the arrival of Rosalie La Grange. Though baited by Miss Eastwood, Rosalie holds her own, disclosing how other mediums do their tricks, and promising tonight will be straight. Helen O'Neill and Rosalie have a brief aside, in which only the audience learns they are daughter and mother. Chairs are placed in a circle for the seance. Crosby has Pollock lock all the doors from the outside. As they sit, Miss Erskine observes they are thirteen. Rosalie is tied hands and ankles to her chair. The lights are turned out; Rosalie moans and speaks in the voice of a little girl. She says Spencer Lee wants Ned to ask who killed him. Edward Wales does, but before an answer comes he shrieks and collapses forward. The light is turned on, and the circle broken. Crosby orders Pollock, standing just outside the room, to phone the police and keep the doors locked until they arrive. (Curtain) Act II (Same, 10 minutes later.) Edward's body has been moved to a settee and covered with a drape. Rosalie is still tied in chair. Inspector Donohue and Sgt. Dunn arrive and are briefed by Mr. Crosby, with pointed interjections by both Miss Eastwood and Rosalie. The settee with the body is taken to another room. Rosalie helps rearrange the guests around the chairs in the order they were during the murder, but she tries to place her daughter Helen away from where Wales sat. Donohue traps Helen O'Neill into confessing her relationship to Rosalie. As no knife has been discovered, Donohue summons Mrs. MacPherson to search the ladies while Sgt. Dunn searches the men, to no avail. (Curtain) Act III (Same, 30 minutes later.) Inspector Donahue now reveals Helen O'Neill's fingerprints match those on items in Spencer Lee's room. Rosalie insists Nell is innocent, and persuades her to reveal who she is protecting. Nell says Helen Trent asked her to recover letters she wrote to Spencer. But Helen Trent flatly denies it, startling Helen O'Neill. Donohue is set to arrest Nell, but Rosalie asks him for time to expose the real murderer. Summoning everyone back to the room, Rosalie goes into a trance. Suddenly the voice of Edward Wales is heard, proclaiming the last to enter is the killer. As that person steps into the room, the knife falls at their feet from where it had been thrown into the ceiling. The murderer then confesses to both crimes. As Dunn removes them, Donohue shakes Rosalie's hand. (Curtain)
In the first act, department store owner Edward Gilder learns that one of his former sales clerks, Mary Turner, has been convicted for stealing and given a three-year prison sentence. Gilder is pleased because he had asked the judge to make her an "example" to other employees. Turner asks to speak with Gilder before she goes to prison. While Gilder waits for her arrival, his store detective detains another woman, a customer, for stealing. This woman is the wife of a prominent banker, so rather than have her arrested, Gilder apologizes to her and lets her go. Turner arrives and tells Gilder she has been wrongly convicted. Although she says she never stole, she pleads with Gilder to increase the wages of his clerks, so no one who works there will be forced to steal. Gilder rejects her arguments, and she leaves for prison swearing revenge on him for his treatment of her. After being released from prison, Turner sets up a gang that engages in shady activities that are just within the boundaries of the law. She also marries Gilder's son. A member of the gang attempts to rob the home of Turner's new father-in-law at the urging of a police stooge attempting to entrap the gang. When the stooge reveals the plot, the gang member kills him, leaving Turner and her new husband at the scene to be found by the police. It seems that Turner may go to prison again, but she is saved when the guilty party confesses that she had no involvement in the crimes.
Painter Ned Templeton takes his lover Joan Treghenna from Devon to Paris, where illness and poverty lead her to prostitute herself to obtain his food and medicine. After the pair move to New York and Ned becomes successful, he abandons Joan for another woman; Joan later rejects him and resolves to return to England.
Act I (The Italian room of the Crosby mansion, New York City, evening.) The play opens just after dinner has finished and the guests are coming into the Italian room. Mrs. Crosby assures Will and Nell everyone is already aware of their impending marriage, but Edward Wales won't congratulate them. He has reason, he tells an upset Will. As the other guests stroll in, Pollock announces the arrival of Rosalie La Grange. Though baited by Miss Eastwood, Rosalie holds her own, disclosing how other mediums do their tricks, and promising tonight will be straight. Helen O'Neill and Rosalie have a brief aside, in which only the audience learns they are daughter and mother. Chairs are placed in a circle for the seance. Crosby has Pollock lock all the doors from the outside. As they sit, Miss Erskine observes they are thirteen. Rosalie is tied hands and ankles to her chair. The lights are turned out; Rosalie moans and speaks in the voice of a little girl. She says Spencer Lee wants Ned to ask who killed him. Edward Wales does, but before an answer comes he shrieks and collapses forward. The light is turned on, and the circle broken. Crosby orders Pollock, standing just outside the room, to phone the police and keep the doors locked until they arrive. (Curtain) Act II (Same, 10 minutes later.) Edward's body has been moved to a settee and covered with a drape. Rosalie is still tied in chair. Inspector Donohue and Sgt. Dunn arrive and are briefed by Mr. Crosby, with pointed interjections by both Miss Eastwood and Rosalie. The settee with the body is taken to another room. Rosalie helps rearrange the guests around the chairs in the order they were during the murder, but she tries to place her daughter Helen away from where Wales sat. Donohue traps Helen O'Neill into confessing her relationship to Rosalie. As no knife has been discovered, Donohue summons Mrs. MacPherson to search the ladies while Sgt. Dunn searches the men, to no avail. (Curtain) Act III (Same, 30 minutes later.) Inspector Donahue now reveals Helen O'Neill's fingerprints match those on items in Spencer Lee's room. Rosalie insists Nell is innocent, and persuades her to reveal who she is protecting. Nell says Helen Trent asked her to recover letters she wrote to Spencer. But Helen Trent flatly denies it, startling Helen O'Neill. Donohue is set to arrest Nell, but Rosalie asks him for time to expose the real murderer. Summoning everyone back to the room, Rosalie goes into a trance. Suddenly the voice of Edward Wales is heard, proclaiming the last to enter is the killer. As that person steps into the room, the knife falls at their feet from where it had been thrown into the ceiling. The murderer then confesses to both crimes. As Dunn removes them, Donohue shakes Rosalie's hand. (Curtain)
In the first act, department store owner Edward Gilder learns that one of his former sales clerks, Mary Turner, has been convicted for stealing and given a three-year prison sentence. Gilder is pleased because he had asked the judge to make her an "example" to other employees. Turner asks to speak with Gilder before she goes to prison. While Gilder waits for her arrival, his store detective detains another woman, a customer, for stealing. This woman is the wife of a prominent banker, so rather than have her arrested, Gilder apologizes to her and lets her go. Turner arrives and tells Gilder she has been wrongly convicted. Although she says she never stole, she pleads with Gilder to increase the wages of his clerks, so no one who works there will be forced to steal. Gilder rejects her arguments, and she leaves for prison swearing revenge on him for his treatment of her. After being released from prison, Turner sets up a gang that engages in shady activities that are just within the boundaries of the law. She also marries Gilder's son. A member of the gang attempts to rob the home of Turner's new father-in-law at the urging of a police stooge attempting to entrap the gang. When the stooge reveals the plot, the gang member kills him, leaving Turner and her new husband at the scene to be found by the police. It seems that Turner may go to prison again, but she is saved when the guilty party confesses that she had no involvement in the crimes.