Edith Hardy uses charity funds for Wall Street investments in hopes of buying some new gowns. She loses all the money and borrows from wealthy oriental Tori. When her husband gives her the amount she borrowed, Tori won't take it back, branding her shoulder with a Japanese sign of his ownership. She shoots him. Her husband takes the blame. In court Edith reveals all to an angry mob. Written by Ed Stephan {stephan@cc.wwu.edu} Richard Hardy, a hardworking stockbroker, labors overtime to keep up with the ruinous bills incurred by his beautiful but irresponsible wife Edith, a venal, spoiled socialite who is impervious to his pleas for fiscal restraint. Acting on what she believes to be an insider information, she impulsively embezzles $10,000 from the Red Cross charity she chairs for a stock tip. When she finds the money has been lost, she desperately turns to a Japanese ivory trader with whom she has been thoughtlessly flirting and persuades him to replace the money in exchange for an assignation. When her husband's long-awaited business deal finally materializes, she desperately tries to withdraw from their agreement by replacing the money. Angered and disappointed with her resistance to his advances, he uses a branding device to mark her shoulder as his property. Feeling violated, Edith shoots him in the shoulder and leaves. In order to protect his wife's reputation, Richard confesses to the crime and faces trial for attempted murder. Written by Gabe Taverney (duke1029@aol.com)
