Dr. Crathern's Experiment
Directed by Van Dyke BrookeWealthy Dr. Crathern, deformed from birth, spends most of his time going among the poor and administering all the aid possible. On one occasion he is attracted by a cry from a poor tenement and, upon investigating, learns that Hope, a poor blind girl, is being cruelly beaten by her aunt, Mrs. Marly. He intercedes in her behalf and proposes to the woman that he will be the girl's legal guardian. She agrees, and after the legal formalities have been attended to, Hope is taken to the doctor's home and placed in his housekeeper's care. Later she is sent away to a school for the blind, and after spending two years there she returns home, grown to beautiful young-womanhood. Believing that she will never see his deformity, Dr. Crathern proposes to her and is accepted. The wedding day has been set, but their plans are sadly interrupted by the appearance of a friend of the doctor's, an eye specialist who, after examining Hope's eyes, makes the startling discovery that there is a possibility of restoring her sight. An operation is performed and it is successful. When she asks for Dr. Crathern she is informed that he went away, for fear that she would not love him when she sees his hideous deformity. Learning of his address she tells him that she would rather be blind than to live without him and requests him to return immediately. He does, and instead of turning away in disgust as he thought she would, she runs into his arms.
