Desc: Too Late: Suzanne, the daughter of a sea captain, who had sacrificed his life in defense of his country, is present at the death-bed of her broken-hearted mother. Suzanne, inheriting her father's love for the sea, is determined to go on a voyage. The sailors warn her against such a course, but she embarks in a fragile craft. A violent storm arises, and the sailors, standing awe-struck, cry, "Alas, she has joined the brave hearts that rest forever in the deep." But a stranger cries, "No, she is a woman. While you men of the sea hesitate, I will go to the rescue." It is the Prince Leander. and it is thus that he and Suzanne meet for the first time. After the rescue the Prince calls daily to inquire for Suzanne, and is assured that she is convalescing. These daily visits bring about the inevitable result; they fall in love with each other. In the meanwhile, enemies attack his country, but the Prince, enraptured by his all-absorbing love for Suzanne, fails to respond to his country's call, and rejoin his regiment in defense of his native land. It is not cowardice that detains the youthful Prince; it is love for his maiden of the sea, whom he had so miraculously snatched from a watery grave. Suzanne realizes that though her life had been saved by Leander, yet at the same time her heart had been lost; lost to the handsome stranger, of whose rank and royal lineage she was in total ignorance. For he was heir to his father's throne, and his country's future King. So Suzanne listens to Leander's pleadings and declaration of love (supposing him to be of her own station in life), and they pledge their love through time and eternity. Prince Leander's continued absence during the period of his country's peril caused the King and the Council of the Kingdom of Hessen to institute official espionage over the Prince's movements. The investigation is placed in charge of the Adjutant, who, after a thorough search and a careful watch, sends this message to the King: "It is a woman." Then Leander's father sets out to visit Suzanne. He tells her that her lover is not what she thinks him, a plain citizen, but that he is the heir to the throne. He admonishes her to give him up, saying, "I will compel you not only to release him from your engagement, but to write him a letter containing your farewell, now and forever. Your servant must deliver this letter to the Prince, and say that you have disappeared, and no one knows whither. For the salvation of your country, if you are devoted to it, for the future career of the Prince, if you love him, in the name of your brave father's noble life, and nobler death, I ask you to make the sacrifice and give up my son." And Suzanne replies, "For your son's sake I agree." The Prince returns to Suzanne's home, but she is no longer there. He is handed her letter of farewell. The answer only comes when his father, suddenly at the point of death, after a royal reception and ball, repents of his action in separating the lovers. The Prince had met all the beauties of the Kingdom of Hessen, but says, "I will never marry. My heart is given to a woman far from my own country." Then, shortly before he expires, the father commands the Adjutant, "Get the letters the girl has written to the Prince, the letters that we intercepted. I will tell you all, my boy. but forgive me the great wrong I have done." Though the Prince forgives his father, yet his first official act, after ascending the throne, is to dismiss and banish the Adjutant who had acted as spy. Then Leander went in search of his lost love, and found her wandering, a broken woman, a pitiful shadow of her former self, a mental and physical wreck. As he approaches her, she fails to recognize the man who, in happier days, had been all in all to her. He turns away, broken-hearted. Epilogue: Following the physician's advice, Leander has Suzanne sent to a convent, where she finds solace in spiritual consolation.