THE STORY: Orville, an impecunious woodchopper, and his wife, Marti, have a lovingly belligerent relationship. But after a particularly violent row, Marti decides to wreak a revenge on her wayward husband. When Valmoth and Lucien, two upper-class gentleman out on a grouseshoot, tell her they are trying to cure a well-born young lady of a rare disease which, for some mysterious reason, prevents her from speaking, she concocts a fabulous lie about her hubby, telling them that he is a miraculous doctor who has cured innumerable cases originally thought to be hopeless. Enthralled by Marti’s description of her “miraculous doctor,” they coerce him over to the home of the speechless young lady and, believing he might be in for a bountiful reward, Orville pretends to be the Great Healer they take him to be. While in residence, he realizes the young lady’s speech problem is simply a ruse to avoid being married to an insufferable suitor and that she is really in love with another. After several farcical scrapes with the young lady’s father, lover, governess and friends, Orville’s true identity is revealed—but by then the silent daughter has “miraculously” recovered her speech, Marti has rediscovered her hubby and what could have been a disaster turns out happily for all concerned.
