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Nathan and David
Price have lived in this country for a number of years. They
have prospered. The opening scene shows Nathan and Mrs.
Fradkin, who has just been engaged as housekeeper,
completing preparations for the reception of Mira and her
son Gertchik (Gregory). Mira is the wife of David, a
weakling and inconstant person. In conversation between
Nathan and the old lady we learn that because of a series of
misfortune, all communication between the brothers and their
relatives back in Russia was cut off, and a rumor spread
that Mira and her young son were drowned. After years,
however, this proved untrue and now they were coming to this
country. Nathan has prepared a gift, a beautiful fur coat,
for Mira. It was he also who prepared the home. Florence, a
lady with a past, comes. She has had an affair with David,
which was supposed to have been adjusted, but the girl
denies this and takes the new coat in spite of Nathan's
protest.
The guests
arrive. Mira is still charming, and the boy is grown up. It
appears that Nathan was also in love with Mira and withdrew
in favor of his brother. The great love, however, that he
felt for Mira still persists. Florence returns and in order
to save Mira the painful knowledge of her relation with
David, Nathan pretends that she is his affianced.
At first
Florence seems inclined to agree to this deception, but she
reverses herself and insists that David is her affianced, in
face they have been living as husband and wife. In spite of
Nathan's efforts to keep Florence from revealing the true
state of affairs, the truth is finally revealed. Mira then
confesses to an affair with a Russian officer. David, who in
the first flush of a renewed affection for his long missing
wife, showers affectionate endearments on Mira, now
denounces her in the bitterest terms. He is a weakling,
however, and he soon grovels in the dust begging
forgiveness. Mira calls her son and tells that they are
going back to Russia. This pleases the youth, who finds
conditions in this country at variance with those in Russia.
The two worlds do not
harmonize. The years that have passed and the great
revolution has created a deep chasm between the two worlds.
Mira has for a number of years been counted among the dead.
Perhaps she isn't really among the living. She and her son
have come back OUT OF THE BEYOND.
Fate, however, is stronger
than either Nathan, or David, or Mira and the other people
gathered abut them. As the final curtain falls we realize
that Mira and her son will remain in this country and that
life and time great healers will in some measure readjust
the lives of these people, which has been violently and
tragically disrupted by war and revolution. |
