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Reincarnation Series 1
From a Collection of Crowley's Plays and Scenarios
John Stern — Millionaire ship owner on Wall Street, age 50. Dick Stern — His son, age 25. Vera Vane — His confidential secretary, age 20. Robert Vane — Her Father. Walter Black — John Stern's business rival.
Stern is the head of a shipping trust which is planning a new combine, very secretly. Vane is approached by the head of the other side (Walter Black) to get the secrets through his daughter. He hypnotises her, and creates a secondary personality called Maud, who differs markedly in personal appearance and gesture from Vera. She “makes up” as her first impulse, on awakening into Maud's personality, and acts the siren, while Vera is shy, modest, and demure. Maud knows nothing of Vera's life and so cannot reveal the secrets of the office.
Dick Stern is in love with Vera. Vera hates Stern, and arranges for Maud to try to ruin him by inducing him to make love to her.
The plot develops through various “thrilling” episodes from the cave-man to date, in which Black repeatedly appears with a new plot, and Dick usually manages to foil it.
There is a mystery hanging over the past of both Stern and Vane. This skeleton peeps constantly out of the cupboard. Finally Stern and Vane meet and recognise each other. They were both imprisoned long ago, on a charge of fraud connected with a bank owned by Black, and each believed the other guilty. After their imprisonment their wives both gave birth to children and died in the process. Black who had vainly sought to corrupt both women, and created the plot to imprison their husbands in pursuance of this design he changed the children, so that Vera is Stern's daughter, and Dick is Vane's son.
Maud has to be re-hypnotized by her “father” to return to the Vera personality, but when she succeeds at last in seducing Dick, his kiss awakens her, she becomes Vera, and the plot is laid bare. The young lovers rush into each other's arms, and the old men are reconciled. Black, seeing the failure of his plans, begins to shoot and wounds Vera. Dick rushes on him, is shot, but strangles him. The young people convalesce and marry.
Each development of the plot is to create excitement more by the changes in the relations of the parties than by the mere physick thrills of adventure. The discovery of Black's plot may be made by his falling into his own trap by yielding to Maud's lure. Little by little he confesses his past life to her, which informs Vera, who knows Maud's life (though the reverse is not the case). Thus Vera is always able to clear up the mental situation by her knowledge, as Dick to save the physical situation by his courage and address.
Aleister Crowley.
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