Desire Of The Heart

Drogo has an affair with Lily, a married woman. Lily’s husband finds out, and threatens to send her to the country and chaperon their recently orphaned niece, Cornelia, who is rich beyond reason. Lily tells Drogo, and finds an alternative for them to meet more than ever: marry Cornelia.

Cornelia inherits a big fortune from a grandmother, and is orphaned. She must go with her uncle as a guardian. She refuses to go, but is forced to do so. She hides her expressive eyes with big black spectacles.

Cornelia meets Drogo, falls in love at first sight. Drogo proposed to Cornelia the second day of their meeting. On the night before their wedding, Cornelia finds out about Drogo and Lily’s affair. She goes on with the wedding, anyway. They get married, still with her spectacles on, and go off to Paris on a honeymoon, of sorts. She never took her spectacles off, not ever.

Paris. There, Cornelia confronts Drogo and tells him that she knows of his affair with her aunt. She tells him that he will never touch her, ever. Yet…she still loves him and will try whatever is in her power to have him love her.

Drogo goes out for the night, leaving Cornelia behind at the hotel. She wants to follow him, to find out where he was enjoying himself, but it was indecent for her to go out and ruin her reputation. At the right moment, Cornelia’s cousin Archie comes for a visit. She tells him the whole story and begs him to help her.

Enter Reneè, Archie’s long-time friend. Reneè, famous in Paris and has her own affair with Russia’s Grand Duke, helps Cornelia. She orders Cornelia to take off her spectacles and amazed at her expressive eyes. She gives her a makeover, which is astounding. Cornelia earns a new name: Desireè.

Desireè, Reneè, and Archie go to the club where Drogo is. He starts talking to her, but Reneè tells him that Desireè is not for him, because she is in love with someone else. Drogo is intrigued, and is determined to win Desireè’s love.

So went the deception: Drogo, seeing Desireè at night, sees Cornelia for formality’s sake by day, and vice versa with Cornelia with the spectacles, as Desireè. Drogo falls madly in love with Desireè, but Desireè/Cornelia tests him to the point of his desperation.

They finally make love on a dreamy, starry night. At dawn, Desireè flees, and is never seen again. She writes to Drogo that she has gone away and will never find her if he tries to look for her. Drogo has fallen for her. He had forgotten all about Lily.

The next day, Drogo talks to Cornelia, that they need to go back home. When they go back home, he tells her he wants a divorce. He has fallen so much in love with Desireè that he wants to return to Paris to look for her. Cornelia, before their discussion of divorce, receives a letter from the King and Queen and wishes to visit them on their return from their honeymoon.

Cornelia, sure that Drogo loves Desireè, tortures him a little longer. They agree that they have this last dinner together with the King and Queen, and then she would talk further about this divorce.

That night, Cornelia takes off the spectacles and asks her maid to destroy it, burn it and not be in her presence. Because that night, she will be Desireè, forever. For Drogo.

She stalls a little bit, until the guests arrive. As she descended down the stairs, in her true form, Drogo looks up and cries Desireè’s name. Lily, who was among the guests, comes in and bursts out Cornelia’s name. And so the truth came out. Cornelia is Desireè. Desireè is Cornelia. Both women were one.

So, what happened at the end? What do you think?