When she
discovered that he had no intention of marrying her, she attempted
suicide. Her mother, on learning the truth, went to Thane's parents
and pleaded for the righting of the wrong. Howard Thane had, by this
time, lost all patience with his son. He refused to have anything
to do with the matter. The young man's mother ordered Miss Ritter's
mother out of the apartment and threatened to have her arrested for
blackmail. Shortly after this episode, we were consulted by Mrs.
Ritter, much against the wishes of her daughter, who shrank from
the notoriety and the disgrace of a lawsuit. The elder Thane was
adamant in his decision that his son should marry the girl, who,
he was fair enough to admit, was a young woman of very superior
character and who, he was convinced, had been basely deceived. The
mother, on the other hand, was relentlessly opposed to the sacrifice
of her son. We took the matter to court. On the morning of the
first day of the trial, before the opening of court, the defendant's
counsel came to us with a proposition. They offered to settle out
of court for twenty-five thousand dollars. In the end, we accepted
fifty thousand, and the case was dismissed. Afterwards counsel
for the other side informed us that the elder Thane turned his son
out of his home and refused to have anything more to do with him.
I understand the young man went to Europe, where he subsisted on
an allowance provided by his mother.
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