The Kiss (1914)

• 49%
• 1914
• Drama
• Ulysses Davis
• Patricia Palmer
• George Holt
• William Desmond Taylor

Contented and happy, Alice, a little shop girl, smiles satisfactorily as she looks at her little bank savings. Fred, the floorwalker in Berkley's store where she works, is in love with her. George Dale, a wealthy society man, takes his fiancée, Helen Bradley, out riding. Their car is stalled, and in fixing it, his necktie becomes oil-spattered. He stops at Berkley's to buy another. Mazie, a flashily-dressed girl at the counter next to Alice's, waits on him. George flirts with her. Alice overhears them and envy creeps into her mind. She decides that the attentions Mazie receives is due to her pretty clothes. After listening to Mazie's conquests, she determines to purchase some stylish attire, herself, and that night, breaks open her bank. Fred expresses disapproval of Alice's new finery. When George comes to the store again, he is struck with her appearance, and ignoring Mazie, invites Alice to dinner. They meet his fiancée and Betty, her friend. George introduces Alice as his cousin. Helen kisses her on her cheek. Alice has an awakening and her conscience begins to trouble her. Later, when George tries to kiss her mi the cheek, she springs up, saying. "No, no. That is where she kissed me because she loved you." Hurrying home, she casts off her finery and returns to her modest attire. Repentant, George tells Helen the truth and his sincerity wins her forgiveness. Next day, the landlady's little child kisses Alice on the same cheek that Helen had kissed, while Fred, happy that she has gone back to the simple things of life, adds his kiss to the others. Alice is happy and realizes that contentment is one of the foundation stones of happiness.