The Misleading Lady

About the show

As they had done in The Ghost Breaker, the playwrights inserted a number of silent tableau after each act, where the curtain would open on a slightly changed scene, without any dialogue. The instructions for these are omitted here. Act I (The country home of John Cannell on the upper Hudson River. Just before 10pm.) Amy, Grace, Jane, and Helen insist Parker keeps his side of their wager; Helen has spent five days enticing Jack into proposing. Offstage, Mrs. Cannell is singing and playing a piano. When Stephen dances in they scold him: he was supposed to keep Mrs. Cannell occupied. Shortly before 10pm, Helen sits while the others hide. Jack appears to ask Helen for her answer. She feigns confusion; he confesses his feelings. But Babe and Spider interrupt by knocking at the French doors. The tipsy duo are lost; Jack sets them straight, but is also asked by Babe whether any islands are for sale? They depart, and impatient Jack presses Helen, saying he loves her. He proposes and the others suddenly appear, the girls exclaiming Helen won the wager. Jack learns that Helen wanted a part in Parker's new play. He will now cast her as she has proven her male-luring skill. Outwardly, Jack maintains a cool demeanor. Their host, John W. Connell arrives with Helen's fiancé, Henry Tracey, who becomes upset at hearing what happened. Stephen exacerbates the situation by claiming everyone proposes to Helen. Uninvited reporter Keen Fitzpatrick, who has been covering a strike at Tracey's coal fields, adds to the confusion. The Connells apologize to Jack as he prepares to leave in his car. Helen asks everyone to wait while she speaks to him. They quarrel, and she suggests he should put a woman under a bell-jar and study her carefully, to repair his ignorance. Jack throws his overcoat over Helen's head and drags her away. Everyone is confused, having heard Helen's screams and the sound of Jack's car driving away. Tracey runs for his own car. Keen telephones in the story then drags Stephen out to pursue the couple. (Curtain) Act II (Jack's bungalow, "Eagle Lodge", in the Adirondacks, that night.) The society scene is followed by a two-person duel, between Helen and Jack. They tussle as he tries to wash her face and hands. The lodge has a telephone, with which Helen tries to summon help. Jack justifies kidnapping her by saying she committed larceny. She obtained property under false pretenses, by taking his heart. When she smashes a window with a chair, he unchains Bobbie and fastens the collar around Helen's ankle. Their verbal sparring is interrupted by Boney peeking in from a trap door in the ceiling. He is a harmless crank, suffering from a delusion he is Napoleon. Jack locks him in the upstairs bedroom then phones Sunny Vale to come get their ward. But while on the phone Keen cuts in on the party line to warn Jack of Tracey coming with a gun. When a motor car is heard approaching, Helen urges Jack to flee before Tracey comes. Jack locks her in a cabinet, only to find the visitors are Babe and Spider, going around in circles, and still looking for an island for Babe's uncle. Sending them off, Jack releases Helen from the cabinet. He claims she loves him, because she tried to get him to leave before Tracey arrived. He kisses her, but when Jack turns his back, Helen hits his head with the telephone. (Curtain) Act III (Same as Act II, a few hours later.) Jack enters the bungalow, his head bandaged with Helen's scarf. He reads a note she left on the door. He has Bobbie sniff her slipper then he and the dog set out to find her. Boney peeks through the trap door, and uses a fishing pole to retrieve the keys from the table. He is then heard unlocking the upstairs bedroom door. He comes downstairs, and spends some time trying to tie a rope to two different door knobs. It's too short, so he cuts it in two and tries again. He hides when Keen arrives. Keen hangs up the off-hook phone, only to find Boney has joined him. Assuming he is Jack, Keen tries to question him, but gets nowhere. Keen then places a call to his newspaper. Suddenly the sound of men singing La Marseillaise is heard outside. Tim and Bill enter the bungalow, saluting Boney. Confused, Keen hangs up. Jack now reappears. Tim tells Keen and Jack about Boney's mania, and how his college-age nephew inherited a fortune on the provision he buy his uncle an island for his "St. Helena". Jack asks Keen and the two orderlies to go into the bedroom so he can question Boney about Helen. He learns nothing and goes outside. Boney then ties the bedroom door knob to the nearby gun rack, trapping the three men inside. Stephen enters to behold Boney, who turns off the only lamp. Stephen yells for help, Bony disappears. Freed from the bedroom, Tim and Bill march off singing to attract Boney, while Keen and Stephen search for Helen. Tracey surprises Jack at gunpoint. He claims Helen is his wife, and accuses Jack of being a philanderer. Jack guesses he is lying and that Tracey thinks Helen is in earshot. Jack disarms Tracey, who also leaves to look for Helen. Tim and Bill return and take Boney away. Helen stumbles in, led by Bobbie, and is comforted by Jack. Stephen rushes in, but is rebuffed by Helen saying "I don't want to be rescued". (Curtain)