The Spreading Dawn

Overview

Georgina asks permission from her old aunt, Patricia Mercer Vanderpyl, to marry Capt. Nugent before his departure for France. Patricia refuses and, in reply to Georgina's questioning, gives her a diary from her own girlhood to read. The diary unfolds the story of Patricia's marriage to soldier Anthony Vanderpyl. Returning on furlough after the outbreak of the Civil War, Anthony suddenly leaves Patricia to visit Mrs. Le Roy, an old flame, and is killed by her jealous husband. Positive that Anthony had been unfaithful to her, Patricia refuses to open the letter that her husband sent her on the day of his death. Georgina now opens it and discovers that Anthony had gone to Mrs. Le Roy to end the affair that his brother Bentley was having with her. With this revelation, Patricia sanctions her niece's marriage, then dies, joining Anthony in "the spreading dawn".

Directed by Laurence Trimble

Top cast

Jane Cowl

Patricia Mercer Vanderpyl

O

Orme Caldara

Anthony Vanderpyl

H

Harry Spingler

Bentley Vanderpyl

F

Florence Billings

Mrs. Cornelia Le Roy

Henry Stephenson

Mr. LeRoy

A

Alice Chapin

Mrs. Mercer

H

Helena Blair

Young Lizzie

C

Cecil Owen

Colonel Lee

Mabel Ballin

Georgina Vanderpyl

Edmund Lowe

Captain Lewis Nugent

E

Edith McAlpin

Old Lizzie

Details