Fine Feathers
Bob and Jane Reynolds live modestly in a bungalow on Staten Island, where Bob earns $25 a week. Jane has grown dissatisfied with their limited means and wants the clothes and comforts that they cannot afford. John Brand, a wealthy and unscrupulous former college classmate of Bob's, offers Bob $40,000 to approve the use of inferior cement in the construction of a dam. Bob initially refuses, but Brand persuades Jane to influence her husband, and Bob eventually accepts the bribe. Five years later, Bob and Jane live in an expensive house on Long Island. Bob has lost money through speculation and has written a $10,000 check against an overdrawn account. Drunk and desperate, he blames Brand for his ruin and threatens to expose the bribery unless Brand helps him. Brand warns that exposing the scheme will also implicate Jane, but he ultimately covers Bob's check. Bob and Jane decide to abandon their affluent life and begin again. Before they can do so, however, they learn that the dam constructed with the defective cement has collapsed, destroying a community and killing many people. Overcome by guilt, Bob telephones the police and asks that an officer be sent to the house. The lights go out, a gunshot is heard, and Jane realizes that Bob has killed himself.