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1-38 of 38
- A hypnotic Svengali controls the singing voice of a young starlet, but he cannot control her heart.
- Albert Jordan, publishing house manager, lavishes his salary on his adored wife, Rita, and little daughter Edna. She is a churchgoing woman, while his home and his family is his religion. While returning home one day, Jordan sees his little daughter in the path of an auto. He runs to snatch her from instant death. He saves her but is seriously injured himself. As a result, he becomes a half paralytic. His wife becomes the bread-winner of the family. She frets against this and is tempted by a former lover, Jim Shaw, a race-track follower, and leaves with him. Jordan becomes an embittered blasphemer. He is compelled to sell newspapers and pencils at an elevated station. Here a splendid woman with a deathless faith finds the hopeless Jordan and teaches him her creed of life. Jordan begins to pray. At last, in response to his prayers and more hopeful state, Jordan is healed and learns that God's way is not always the ways of men. The years pass. Jordan with health, new strength, new friends, becomes successful in business. His daughter, Edna, now a beautiful young woman, marries Frank Rollins, of aristocratic family, and assistant district attorney. Jordan makes his home with the young couple. On the other hand, Rita, who first lived in luxury, has gradually gone down the ladder of life and now reaps the harvest of her sin and selfishness. Shaw is drinking heavily and beats her. They return from Paris and start a flashy tango hall. A few months later, after his daughter's marriage, Jordan is asked by Rollins to accompany him on a vice crusade. While in a dance place, there is a quarrel between a man and a woman. Jordan goes to intervene and comes face to face with his wife. After a night of anguish Jordan goes to Rita, telling her of himself and of Edna. He teaches her to see the "light," as he calls it, as he has seen it. Rita is touched by Jordan's willingness to forgive and forget and the latent good in Rita's nature rises to meet the good in Jordan. How Rita repays his wish to reclaim her is unfolded in the climax.
- In each of the three homes of three distinct classes of modern life a child is born. A boy is born to a poor working man, John Madden, in his East Side home. A daughter is born to the city editor of one of the daily papers, Eustace Miles, and a son is born to John Brown, a wealthy but unscrupulous politician. The children are next shown at nine years of age in their respective schools. The plot of the story begins when the three have grown into young manhood and womanhood and are working out their lives in their particular class. Bill Madden, the poor man's son, is now foreman in a construction work, with great ambitions to become a lawyer. Mary Miles, the editor's daughter, has become a beautiful young woman. The politician's son, a product of his class, is vicious and degenerate. Mary Madden, Bill's sister, working in a department store, attracts the attention of Victor Brown, the wealthy young renegade. She repels all his advances. To show he is the stronger and for revenge, he kidnaps her, drugs and takes her to an undesirable house, where she is saved by a previous victim of the degenerate. In the meantime, Bill Madden has obtained an education in law and gets his degree. He frustrates the efforts of a heroin peddler to sell his obnoxious drug to children, and is thus brought into touch with Mary Miles, who thanks him for what he has done for humanity. He upholds his class in their fight against environment, corruption and the high cost of living, which bears so heavily upon them. This incites the hatred of the politician, John Brown, who instructs a gunman to shoot him. Victor Brown meets Mary Miles, is attracted by her beauty, and forces his attention upon her. Bill sees him and interferes, and the gunman, hired to kill Bill Madden, shoots Victor accidentally, and escapes unseen. Bill is arrested for the murder. In the courtroom the gratitude of a poor woman whom the young lawyer had defended, and who witnessed the actual murder, reveals to the court the real circumstances. When John Brown finds that he is the instigator of his own son's death, he dies from a stroke of apoplexy. Bill, now a hero, receives the nomination for the representative of his district. He also wins the editor's daughter for his wife. This moral story is worthy of mention.
- Edith and John Maitland will allow David Sterling to marry their daughter Helen as soon as he earns five thousand dollars, so David tries to sell one of his inventions to Simon Baird for that amount. Simon, unable to make up his mind, is found murdered the next day, and David is arrested with five thousand dollars of Simon's money in his possession. At the trial, Edith confesses to the murder, saying that Simon had wronged her years before, and that she took his money and gave it to David so that he could marry Helen. David refutes this testimony, though, and claims to be the murderer himself. In the end, the audience must decide for itself the identity of the killer.
- Bertha Miller is the young wife of an industrious artisan. The couple live comfortably but hardly luxuriously, and sometimes Bertha can't stifle the envious longings aroused in her by reports of her former girl friends' material success. Three of these former chums have had particular success, in the sense of having all the things that money can buy. Bertha and her three friends reunite when they meet a steamer that is bringing back one of the group who has become an opera singer. Bertha is invited to visit each of her three friends. She first visits Ruth Taylor's beautiful home, where she receives the first intimation that things are not as pleasant in Ruth's world as they appear on the surface. She finds Ruth in a nervous state and learns that she has written letters to an admirer and fears her husband will discover it. Bertha agrees to help Ruth out of her trouble and in doing so nearly estranges herself from her own husband. Lucille, the opera singer, has a handsome suite of rooms in a fashionable hotel. Bertha finds Lucille in despair over the fact that her expected operatic role has been given to another singer. Bertha learns to her surprise that Lucille's lot is in no way so happy as she had thought at first. The climax of this scene comes when Lucille has Bertha meet the man whom Lucille loves and expects to marry. This man Bertha discovers to be the owner of the house in which she and her husband live. Lucille is broken-hearted when she learns that her lover is married and the father of a family. The third seemingly-successful friend, Evelyn, lives in a pretty apartment, and when Bertha visits her she seems to have no cares or worries. Induced to go out to a gay party with Evelyn that evening, Bertha discovers to her horror that Evelyn's lovely gowns and luxurious living are being paid for in the old way of the underworld. It is in this scene, amid the false gaiety of Broadway night-life, that Bertha receives her final disillusionment and discovers the whole false fabric of her friends' careers. All envy is wiped from her heart and she returns to her steady, hard-working husband and her little child conscious that hers is, after all, the real success in life.
- Dr. Andre Surtaine is a wealthy manufacturer of a patent medicine cure-all. He idolizes his son Hal, who knows little of his father's business and does not realize that their wealth has been built upon a fraud and on the pitiable weakness of sufferers throughout the nation. Hal falls in love with Esme, the daughter of Dr. Mark Elliott. Years before, Dr. Surtaine, while at the beginning of his career as a peddler of his nostrum, had been attacked by a man whose wife contracted the morphine habit through taking Surtaine's fake medicine. In his father's factory, Hal meets Milly Beal, who is ignorant of the tact that she is the daughter of this old-time enemy of Dr. Surtaine. "The Clarion" is a newspaper published in the city where Surtaine's medicine is manufactured. Through the influence of a minister "The Clarion" attacks editorially Dr. Surtaine and his business. Taking his father's explanation for granted, Hal believes the newspaper attack unjustified and in order to get a retraction, purchases "The Clarion." Hal conducts the newspaper along ideal lines but meets with all forms of opposition from the heavy advertisers and influential citizens. One of his attacks is against Kathleen Pierce, a wealthy girl guilty of reckless automobile driving. The editorial against her swamps "The Clarion" with libel suits and brings about the withdrawal of most of its important advertisements. The attack also estranges Hal and Esme, who is one of Kathleen's friends, and who tried in vain to keep the story out of the paper. Hal's father heads an attempt to suppress news in "The Clarion" of an outbreak of contagious disease in the poorer quarter of the city, lest the news interfere with an "Old Home Week" celebration then in progress. Hal bravely refuses to be influenced and reveals the conditions that brought about the epidemic. Milly Beal starts on the downward path. Under the influence of drink she visits Dr. Surtaine and denounces him as having been the cause of her mother's death, through his fake medicine. She shoots Dr. Surtaine, but Hal arrives just in time to spoil her aim and Surtaine is only slightly wounded. Hal then learns from Milly the truth about his father's medicine business. Torn between his love for his father and his duty as an editor, Hal leaves his home and goes to live in a hotel and work out his problem for himself. He finally publishes the names and pictures of the owners of the "Rookeries," as the district in which the epidemic started is called, and that section of the town is quarantined. Led by Veltman, an anarchist and old employee of "The Clarion," the mob of foreigners pours down to attack "The Clarion" in the belief that the newspaper is responsible for their troubles. Veltman burls a bomb into "The Clarion" office, wrecking the building and killing a number of the mob. This crime turns the sentiment of the mob against Veltman who is pursued furiously through the town and finally run down with Hal in lead of the pack of pursuers. Hal and Esme are reunited and Dr. Surtaine, to regain his son's affections and respect, abandons the manufacture of his notorious medicine.
- Circus dancer Babette learns from Zaidee, her fortune-teller mother, that her father is the respected businessman Ezra Butterworth, who had deserted Zaidee years before and then remarried. After Zaidee dies, Babette goes to live with Ezra, but he is so fearful that his second wife, as well as the townspeople, will learn of his less-than-upright past that he takes her in as his ward and forbids her to mention their real relationship. Still, gossip begins, and Ezra is forced to tell the whole story to his wife, who forgives him. Disgusted by the intolerant townspeople, Babette returns to the circus, as well as to her sweetheart Petey. In the end, Ezra publicly acknowledges her as his daughter and presents Babette and Petey with a farm as a wedding present.
- Margot, the motherless daughter of a New England fisherman, reads society magazines and dreams of a better life. She falls in love with a photograph of Jack Rutledge, a wealthy heir residing on the other side of the cove. For rescuing her from a burning launch, Jack's mother takes in Margot, a situation that provokes the jealousy of Jack's sister Adele. Enamored of the guileless Margot, Jack proposes marriage, but Mrs. Rutledge intervenes, forcing her son to court a woman of equal social standing. Dejected, Margot begs to go home, but her father insists that because her mother was of high birth, she is worthy of Jack's attentions. Margot learns of Adele's affair with a married man, Alexander Gibson, and warns her against continuing the romance. Believing Margot to be interested in Gibson herself, Adele flies into a jealous rage, and the lover is accidentally shot in the struggle. Margot is accused of the murder and nobly accepts the guilty verdict, but Adele finally vindicates her and she is able to marry Jack.
- Senator Rivers of the State of Missouri comes to the United States Senate, and meets Silas Denman, who has been unsuccessful in the prosecution of the Denman Claim, a relic of the Revolutionary War. Denman's daughter, Mabel, who teaches music, meets Mrs. Hillary, a widow, who aids her in many ways. At Mrs. Hillary's home she meets Count von Strahl, and Armstrong, the Secretary of State, at whose home she is introduced to Senator Rivers. Mabel develops a liking for von Strahl. Her father is excited over the prospect of such valuable aid in getting his claim through, and Rivers makes a powerful speech in its favor, incited by regard for Mabel as well as by the justice of the claim. The Senator is stunned by the remark of Mrs. Hillary that Mabel is engaged to von Strahl, but in order to give her a dowry, redoubles his efforts on the Denman bill. The Senator and Mrs. Hillary are on good terms, and learn that Mrs. Armstrong and von Strahl are planning an elopement. The Senator sends Ling Ching, the Chinese Ambassador, to the Armstrong home to intercept Mrs. Armstrong, and before she can get rid of him, her husband arrives, he having been told that von Strahl's carriage had gone to his house. Senator Rivers turns the tables on von Strahl in a neat way, and hurries back to the Senate. By a neat trick he puts the Denman bill through, but is afraid of Mabel's marriage with the Count, as he knows his character. Developments satisfy Mabel as to the rascality of the Count. She realizes that she is in love with Senator Rivers, who in spite of his age, appeals to every particle of her nature. She appreciates the force of his actions regarding Mrs. Armstrong and Count von Strahl, and at the end the Senator has won the claimant as well as the claim.
- Seductive vamp La Belle ( Lillian Lorraine ) sets out to steal Jack Holmes ( Henry King )away from his loving wife Mary ( Mabel Van Buren ). He foolishly spends every penny on the vamp , leaving his wife almost destitute. La Belle is killed by a jealous suitor and the evidence points to Jack. However, he is given an reprieve by the way of a letter written by La Belle claiming she had intended to commit suicide. Should his wife now forgive him ?.
- Cyril Maitland and Henry Everard, friends since childhood, are of contrasting temperaments, the former hot-headed and rather impractical, the latter cool-tempered and possessed of a sane viewpoint. Cyril, studying for the ministry, is engaged to Henry's sister Marian, and Henry, studying medicine, is engaged to Cyril's sister Lillian. Unable to resist temptation, Cyril ruins a girl of his parish, Alma Lee, and when a child is about to be born, her father swears to kill the man, but Alma conceals his name. On the night the child is born, Alma's father is found dead. Cyril, being about Henry's build, has worn his clothes, and witnesses see him in the vicinity of the woods where the crime was committed. Henry is convicted of the crime of which Cyril is guilty. Lillian alone believes him innocent, and is sent to prison. Alma declares him to be her child's father. Cyril, believing his calling in the church above all other things, keeps silent, but at the last moment, about to speak, is held back by his father, who thinks him unstrung. Cyril marries Marian, but his conscience tortures him almost beyond endurance and his life becomes a living hell. Finally Henry is released after 20 years in prison, and he attends the cathedral presided over by Cyril, who has become the great Dean Maitland, the most eminent preacher in the country. Cyril sees Henry in the congregation and there is a powerful scene. Cyril meets his son, with a letter from Alma asking for his education, then Alma dies, and her son, learning his identity, renounces his father. Marian dies, and Cyril's troubled soul is grief and conscience-stricken. Henry, seeing the terrible pain of recognition in the cathedral, and remembering his old love for Cyril, now so changed, writes a letter of forgiveness to him, when beyond all endurance, Cyril's pride now broken, repentance enters his soul. The next day, Sunday, his sermon is at first a trite appeal to repentance, and then a dramatic confession of his own sins, when, falling from the pulpit, he drops dead. And after the storm, the sunshine: Henry and Lillian live happy in their true and undying love.
- Chemist Carl Evendorr lives happily with his wife Irene, and their little daughter Rose, until he perfects a formula that brings him a fortune and Irene persuades him to move into more pretentious quarters. Here Irene falls into the hands of social leech Mrs. Wharton. At their first entertainment, Irene, persuaded by Mrs. Wharton, appears in the costume of Odalisk, which brings men to her feet. Carl remonstrates, but to no avail. Funds run low and Irene wins large sums intentionally lost to her at cards. Carl, perfecting another formula, leaves to sell it. Mrs. Wharton, pressing Irene to pay her debts, finally tells "Stoney" Brooke, one of her admirers, how to win Irene. Returning home, the formula sold for a small sum, Carl finds his wife in Brooke's arms. To save his life, Brooke falsely confesses his guilt. Irene divorces Carl, he taking the blame, and later, Hillman, a lawyer and friend of Carl's, marries her. Brooke threatens Mrs. Wharton, demands money and she causes his arrest. Ten years later on his release Brooke obtains money from Irene by threats, and about to leave, he is met by Mrs. Wharton. A struggle ensues and Brooke shoots Mrs. Wharton. Carl, now working in a laboratory, plans to see his daughter. He rushes in and is seen bending over Mrs. Wharton, just as Irene and the police enter the room. Hillman gives himself up, thereby saving Carl. Brooke dies and Hillman passes away in his cell. Finally Carl and Irene come together, contented, if not happy, in the love of their daughter, Rose.
- Kate Tripler, the motherless uneducated daughter of the proprietor of a small hotel in a western town, is full of sentiment and has a craving for love. Frank Barclay, a young civil engineer, loved by Aline Webster, comes to the town to build a railroad bridge. Kate meets him at her father's hotel and tries to attract his attention, but he disregards her. Frank saves the life of Jim Travers, an engineer on the bridge, and they become friends. Kate, trying to make Frank jealous, flirts with Jim, but only amuses Frank. Frank tells Jim of his love and shows him pictures of Aline and her sister, Alicia, saying nothing of his preference. Jim goes east, meets the girls, falls in love with Alicia, marries her and plans a surprise for Frank. A newspaper makes a mistake and says he has married Aline. She writes to Frank telling him of the error. Kate gets the mail at the hotel, reads the letter and destroys it, giving the paper to Frank, who takes the story as truth, gets drunk, makes love to Kate, out of spite, asks Kate to marry him and after a rush for a license, they are married. Recovering from his drunken fit, he is horrified to find what he has done, and has a quarrel with Kate. Jim and his wife, with Aline and her father, arrive at the town and the mistake is cleared up. Frank leaves the cabin. Kate sees him meet Aline, and is about to shoot her when she hears Aline tell Frank to go back to his wife. Frank's father dies and he takes his wife back to New York with him, where she learns to be more like the people he associates with. Aline flirts with Frank, but Kate keeps on with her efforts to improve. Later, at a new big job in the west, where all are gathered, there is a labor riot. Aline shows cowardice and Kate surprises Frank by her bravery. Kate determines to be fair, tells Frank about the letter, and they quarrel, Frank leaving. Kate sends a note saying she will go out of his life, and Aline leaves one saying that a divorce will make everything all right. Going to the station, Kate sees strikers planning to blow up the works. Aline has an appointment with Frank, keeps it on the bridge, and is ordered away by Kate, who threatens her. Aline flees. Frank sees Kate's danger and calls her to come back. The explosion injures Kate, and as Aline is comforted by her sister, Frank finds Kate in the ruins, sees that she is the better woman, and tells her that it is she he wants, not Aline. Kate knows that her punishment is ended.
- James Wadsworth sets his sights on lovely society girl Anna Dalton and determines to marry her. To achieve that goal, he follows her everywhere she goes, including on a ship to South America. He comes up with a plan to make her love him: he throws her overboard, follows her over the side, and swims with her to a deserted island. His somewhat unorthodox method works and he wins over Anna, but problems arise when Richard Towne, Anna's fiancé who has been searching for her, finds the island and discovers the two.
- The husband is bored to death by years of association with his wife, whom he deems old-fashioned and settled. A governess, young and beautiful, comes to the house. The father, master of the house in every sense of the word, is infatuated with the governess's description of life in the city where one remains young even at four-score years. Many conversations occur between the man and the governess, and one day he tells his wife that he is tired of her and that he is going away to the city with a younger and prettier woman. Time passes and the master of the house sees the other side of the governess. Her family is a lot of parasites who live on him. The man, broken in health, his spirit revolting against present conditions, feels a longing away down in his heart for his old-fashioned wife and their three children and the old home that is a home. In a frenzied burst of anger he strikes her, casts aside the woman and the unpleasant associations with her and, older, wiser, sadder and penitent, he returns to his wife and fireside.
- Carew, surgeon at an army post, is in love with Marjorie Caldwell, but Marjorie, who is all for social stuff, thinks her feeling toward him is only friendship. Dames comes to the post as junior surgeon, and supersedes Carew in her regard, marrying the girl. Mrs. Drew, a widow, comes to the post and an intrigue begins between Dames and the widow. Carew sees it, and to save Marjorie tells her that his absences are matters of duty. He asks to be transferred to Manila, and he and Dames are both sent there. On the way Carew warns Dames that he will lose Marjorie's love, and they quarrel, Dames being partly drunk. The ship hits a reef, and Dames, in an effort to save himself, wrenches a life preserver from a woman. Marjorie and Carew are left on the ship, but Carew rescues her, and in the morning they are on the shore of an island with an overturned boat and the bodies of their fellow passengers in the surf. On the shore of another island Dames is rescued by an Abbot, but his wounds cause him to lose his identity. On the first island, Marjorie comes to see the strength of Carew's character but he refrains from telling her of the actions of her husband. A ship is sighted, and Carew, after a struggle, lights the beacon that will save them both but probably take Marjorie away from him. In San Francisco they learn that Dames is reported missing. He asks her to be his wife, but she thinks Dames may still be alive. Dames is on the island with lepers, and works with the monks as Father Fabrician. Carew comes to the island and finds Dames at work among the lepers. He recognizes Dames, but the latter denies his identity. He goes to the monastery, tells the Abbot the truth, and Dames leaves with Carew for Manila, and an operation that will restore his memory. After the operation Dames returns to his drunken habits, and reading some of Carew's letters he learns of the feeling of his wife, giving it a sinister turn. As he prepares to assault Carew he sees the marks of leprosy on his arm, becomes agonized with fear, jumps overboard and is lost. In San Francisco Carew finds Marjorie, tells her of the occurrences and of Dame's death, and while she feels sorry that he has gone as he did, she finds her true happiness with Carew.
- Florence Burgess, a singer in the Cafe Fanchon, supports her lame sister, Frances, but keeps her struggle secret. Oscar Morse, a theatrical manager, is attracted by Florence's beauty and talent, and offers her an engagement. When they meet he demands the usual payment his girls have to make, and is refused. The café has been closed, she is out of work and decides to trick Morse. She gets him drunk, and he signs a paper she has substituted for the contract he planned. Florence the next day admits her deception and Morse, fearing publicity, accepts the situation and stars Florence in "The Green Goddess." She makes a big success, her stage name being Flo Burke. At a little country hotel where she has gone to rest after the first year's work, she meets Fenton, the minister, whose efforts closed the Fanchon, but he does not recognize her. He tells the story of his mission work, she becomes interested, they fall in love, he not knowing that she is the actress, Flo Burke, the register showing Miss F. Burgess. She finally keeps her secret, saying she is the sister of the actress. Fenton is preaching, Florence hears him, determines to give up the stage, but Morse demands the payment of a large forfeit, and she is bound to the stage. Frances, who has been sent to a sanatorium, starts with her sister for New York, the train is wrecked, and Fenton, when the bodies are brought in, finds one bearing cards which tell him it is Flo Burke. Another woman, not dead, has cards of Florence Burgess. Florence sees in a paper in the hospital the announcement of the death of Flo Burke, and sees that it means her escape from the stage. She marries Fenton, but is full of remorse over her deception, and plans to use her money, which had come to her through her own will, which had left it to her sister, for the work of Fenton. Morse goes to the church rectory to see Fenton about a problem play, sees Florence, she denies knowing him, he returns to his office, finds a diary she had kept, and it reveals her secret. He returns, demands full payment of the contract forfeit, and Florence is up against a dilemma. If she gives the money to Morse, she must explain to her husband; if she gives it to her husband Morse will drag her back to the stage. Seeking a way out of the labyrinth, she promises Morse to read the play, and advises Fenton to favor it for production by Morse. He comes to the house, meets Fenton instead of Florence, who overhears her husband praising the play, and decides to give her husband the money. Morse flies into a rage, threatens to denounce her, but Fenton stops him; there is a fight, Morse accidentally shoots himself with his own pistol, and with her husband's love safe Florence feels that she has escaped from the labyrinth.
- Ralph Manson, who marries Leonore Fenwick, is led astray by a stage siren. His wife obtains a divorce, and is aided in sending her son to college by Robert Hadley, who induces her to live with him under promise of marriage as soon as he can obtain a divorce. His wife dies and he refuses to keep his promise to Mrs. Manson. The son, finding a check given by Hadley to his mother, has his suspicions aroused. The son demands an explanation, but his mother declares it was only a business matter. Then follows a scene between the son and his mother's lover, in which Hadley, after being enraged by the boy's words, disregards the plea of Mrs. Manson and tells the son the whole story. This causes the mother to lose her reason and she shoots Hadley. Mrs. Manson is tried for murder. The jury acquits her on the ground of temporary insanity, holding Hadley responsible for her loss of reason. Eugene has been in love with a girl who, in spite of the whole sordid affair and parental objection, sticks to him, and the play ends with the mother and son reunited, and the son wins the girl with whom he is in love.
- When untalented artist Wilfred Barsley is eager for success, he sells his soul to the devil, who first has him kill his uncle for an inheritance. Then, the devil instructs him to commit the sickly, struggling artist Paul La France to a sanitarium and exhibit Paul's paintings as his own. After doing so, Wilfred becomes an overnight modern master, while Paul, during his convalescence, loses his memory and also his sweetheart, Helen Danver, who does not know that he has been hospitalized. Then, when Helen sees one of Wilfred's paintings and recognizes it as Paul's, she bluffs an interest in the fake artist to get information about the real one. After she succeeds, she goes to Paul, and the sight of her restores his memory. Meanwhile, having returned to the vault where he had stashed his uncle's body, Wilfred dies when the door slams shut on him.
- A young girl, reared in luxury, is thrown penniless upon her own resources. She becomes secretary to a great artist, who, in younger and poorer days, married the landlady's daughter. In need of inspiration, the artist turns to his charming secretary. Believing that she loves him, the girl submits, but finds her mistake, when, meeting a flourishing physician, she learns true love. Both the physician and the artist want to marry the girl, the latter promising to get rid of his present encumbrance. Fearing that the physician will learn of her past, the girl refuses his offer of marriage. The artist, having a weak heart, drops dead at her feet upon learning that she does not love him; whereupon the girl becomes the physician's bride. The artist's widow, seeking vengeance, after a protracted discussion between the physician and his wife, secures the position of housekeeper in their home. She plants seeds of jealousy within the wife by telling her the physician loves his adopted child, whom he has brought up from infancy. The wife flies in a rage, charging her husband with infidelity; whereupon the widow, making her revenge complete, reads a diary to husband and wife foolishly kept by the artist, telling of his relations with the former secretary. In her frenzied protestations, the wife also reveals the fact that it was her rejection of his love that caused the death of her lover. Attempting suicide, the wife is prevented by her maid, who shows her the folly of such an act. The wife, impressed by the recital, decides to live down the past, and try to win back her husband's love.
- Sonia Demitri, daughter of an exiled Russian nobleman, comes to this country almost penniless, teaches a while, and then, being a lover of books, starts a little second-hand bookstore. Sonia grows to womanhood unaware of her noble birth, she has a great singing voice. In an old Bible which her father treasures are the documents which will establish her claim to large estates, but her father tells her she will learn it all after his death. David Tryne, living in the same neighborhood, deformed and with a twisted mind, is a remarkable penman and a lover of the beautiful. He forges a letter of recommendation given to one man. The second man uses it and as a result the first man is accused of forgery. The neighbors try to mob Tryne, who takes refuge in the bookstore. Sonia pities his deformities, aids him, and wins his adoration. To the bookstore comes Sutton, a society man, with Kitty Fish, and an impresario. Later, with Schuyler, they all go to hear Sonia sing. She succeeds and it is planned that she shall go abroad and study. Tryne is with her father while she is away and when Demitri dies Tryne learns from the papers in the old Bible of Sonia's high birth. Sonia makes a great success, Schuyler falls in love with her, and Tryne, crazed with jealousy, forges a note which he places in the old Bible, saying that Sonia is the daughter of a disreputable woman. This he signs with Demitri's name, and gives the book to Sutton to give to Sonia, asking him to say that he found it in an old bookshop. Schuyler's mother asks Sonia about her ancestry, and learning nothing, decides to institute inquiries in Russia. Sutton sprains his ankle on his way to Sonia, and sends for her to come and get the book. Tryne learns of this and sends a note to Schuyler, telling him of her going to Sutton. Schuyler meets her there. She shows Sutton's note, and while Schuyler declares his trust in her, she feels that she cannot marry him with the stain on her birth, and sends him away. Sonia gives up everything, and with Tryne as her servitor, awaits only death. Kitty feels for her, and sends for Schuyler to come and see her. The day he is to come, Soma finds the genuine documents regarding her birth which had fallen from Tryne's coat pocket. Tryne sees the papers in her hands, and tries to get them back, but she holds him with her eyes, and as Schuyler enters the room, Tryne sees that he has lost and quietly slips away. With the barrier to their love removed, Sonia and Schuyler find their happiness.
- At a race, My Lady, a horse belonging to Colonel Taylor, wins, but is injured so seriously that she will be unable to run again. Wilfred Warren wagers a large sum on the mare, but is cheated out of his winnings by Kelley, an unscrupulous character of the track. The next year, Colonel Taylor, being in straitened circumstances, breeds My Lady, and Blue Grass, a striking colt, is born. Another year and the Colonel starts to break and train Blue Grass. Another colt is born. Finances become tighter. In the meantime Warren meets Virginia, the Colonel's daughter, a love affair resulting. The Colonel, compelled to sacrifice the second colt, sends his son, Morgan, who, forced to accept a much smaller sum than expected, stakes the money on a "sure tip" and loses. In his anger the Colonel casts him off, ordering him out of the house. Kelley, in an effort to buy My Lady, meets Virginia and determines to get her, as he determines to get the mare. Just before the race in which Blue Grass is entered, the Colonel, badly in need of money, sells the mare to Kelley upon the latter's promise to sell her back, in the event of Blue Grass winning the race. The Colonel uses the money received for a side bet on his horse, and Kelley frames the race against him. Morgan, now Kelley's cashier, meets Warren, who. on learning Morgan's identity, brings about a meeting between him and Virginia, and caught red-handed by the Colonel, is forbidden to see Virginia again. On learning Kelley's intentions, Morgan quits Kelley. In the race, Blue Grass is left flat-footed by the bribed starter, but starts after the rest and wins. Warren, learning of Kelley's plot to steal My Lady, evens up old scores, bringing about a reconciliation and all ends as it should.
- John, eight years old, is adopted by Mr. and Mrs. Randolph. Before leaving, John gives a beautiful miniature of his mother to the matron for safe keeping until Ned, four years younger, finds a new home. Fifteen years later John is admitted to the bar in England, a well-educated, refined young man, while Ned is a shipping clerk in a wholesale house. Several years later John comes to America with his wife, Alice, and establishes law offices in New York. Ned has worked diligently but has never gotten ahead. Trying to make both ends meet, he becomes desperate as his wife, Ruth, is an invalid. He comes under the influence of two crooks, and when he cannot raise money for his wife's necessities, goes with them to crack a safe. They are caught, Ned's plea for leniency is ignored by the judge, and he is sent to jail. Alice Randolph is interested in model tenements and John contributes to the fund. When she tries to interest him in the uplift of criminals, he refuses, saying money spent on jailbirds is wasted. Ned, released, starts over again under the name of Henry Andrews, but his jail record follows him and he cannot get work. His wife is failing rapidly and nothing but an operation costing $1,000 can save her. One of Randolph's clients, Henry Collins, is a subtle beast of prey where women are concerned. Alice has learned of Ned's plight and determines to help him. John refuses to lend her money for the assistance of a man he knows is a criminal. Collins offers the money, which Alice refuses. Haunted by the thought of the tenement sufferer, she goes to Collin's apartment and secures the loan. Ruth's operation is successful and Alice aids Ned in getting employment with John's business partner, asking him to shield Ned's past, and tell John that he came well recommended. Collins has evil intentions towards Alice. When he hears that John is going to leave town that afternoon, he resolves to visit Alice that night. Rushing out of his office, John takes the wrong raincoat, noticing the mistake as he reaches the depot. Placing his hand in the coat pocket he brings out the miniature picture of his mother, which he has given his brother Ned at the orphanage. Ned puts on John's raincoat, and finding in it John's deed and papers, rushes to the house to give John his coat. John comes home and finds Ned near his safe. As he attempts to conceal himself, John believes him to have come there to rob him and has him arrested. Later, when Alice tells him that the man he knew as Henry Andrews is his own brother Ned, John goes to the station and brings Ned back. Meanwhile, Collins comes to visit Alice, who is terrified and at his mercy, he being in a drunken condition. He goes direct to her bedroom, and after a struggle, she wards him off, running out of her room just as John comes in. At the sight of Collins, John is infuriated and a fight ensues. Ned intervenes just in time to save Collin's life. After a thorough explanation, John understands and forgives everything, becoming reconciled with his wife and brother.
- An alchemist, about to be burned at the stake, tells his captors that some day the teachings of the alchemists will be generally believed. The alchemist taught that the human character goes through a process of evolution and in the effort to conquer conditions about him, man finds his birth of character. Harry is in love with Grace. She is the good influence in his life. His companions influence him in the other direction. Large losses at cards make him desperate so that at a dance he is momentarily tempted to steal a diamond-studded hair ornament. The impulse immediately and he returns it, explaining that it dropped to the floor and he picked it up. Unfortunately a witness to both the impulse and the quick wit in pulling himself out of the dilemma was Darby, a master criminal. Later Harry is dragged to a gambling joint by his friends; the place is raided through Harry's bitter rival, Arthur Vane, from whom he rescues Alice, a girl who assists her father in the management of the place. All the boys are arrested except Harry, whom Alice saves by means of a secret door. He thus meets her father, who proves to be Darby. This leads Harry to his becoming the tool of Darby, and he is on the downward path. Harry and Grace become engaged. She does not know the life into which he is drifting. A dealer in objects shows them a valuable necklace. This latter is procured by Harry in a successful burglary. He is then sent to a fashionable house party by Darby to see what loot may be obtained there. Grace is a visitor at the same house party, and it is she who shoots him, not knowing his identity. Discovering who it is she saves him; the wound if only a scratch, but with scorn tells him she never wants to see him again. Harry then determines to make a man of himself, surrenders, and is imprisoned to pay the penalty of his crime. As an ex-convict he is welcomed only in the underworld. Alice, because she has fallen in love with him, unselfishly determines to help him, goes to Grace, pleads with her to overlook the past and give Harry a chance. Grace finally agrees to do so, and Alice sends Harry to her. He obtains a position and is rapidly demonstrating a real character. Refusing to have anything further to do with crooked work, he is threatened and only saved from trouble by the unselfish Alice. However, he repays this sacrifice with an open and cruel snub when with Grace he meets her on the street. Her love turns to hate. The master willingly lures him to his den, Alice maneuvers to lure Grace to the underworld, also so that she may be a witness to the punishment of her ungrateful lover. The situation works up to the dramatic climax where Darby is about to kill Harry when the police, summoned by Grace through a ruse, break in and she and Harry are saved.
- Inez Valenti is the niece of Grant Thorne, who runs a gambling house. She acts as a lure for her uncle's den. Barry King becomes infatuated with her, and this gives her a violent aversion to the life she has been living "behind closed doors." Elsa Montford, daughter of the Judge, is saddened by King's attentions to Inez. Thorne also becomes jealous of King. They fight in the gambling house; Thorne is shot, and King throwing the pistol away, runs, but is caught. Elsa has seen the affair and tells her father who takes her to the police station, where she identifies Barry among the other prisoners. Inez is in despair when she learns that there was a witness to the affair whom the State has in charge, and refuses to leave the city while he is in danger. She sends for Elsa, and tries to bribe her to keep silent, but on refusal offers her a glass of wine which has been drugged, but Elsa breaks the glass and escapes. Inez tries to get Barry to jump his bail, but Elsa pleads with him to stay and fight it out. He agrees and writes to Inez telling her he loves Elsa. Inez, in despair, writes out a full confession of her life, and declares that she and not Barry killed Thorne, Barry having kept silent as to having taken the pistol from her in order to avoid incriminating her. Elsa reads the confession. When she has finished she phones to the district attorney and together they go to Inez's room where they find her a suicide.
- Eunice Fielding, rich, with every wish gratified, is a spoiled society girl and a moral coward. She is in love with Jack Harcourt, who is poor but brave, and who is deeply in love with her. Marjorie Harcourt, Jack's sister, reads Eunice's character and warns her brother against the advisability of marrying her. Nance St. Germain, who is a mystic and a student of theosophy and occult lore, talks to Eunice, but all her warnings are without avail, and Jack and Eunice marry. They are happy for a time, but lack of money causes embarrassment. Eunice is ignorant of everything relating to the value of money, cries over their difficulties, and Jack in despair calls Marjorie home from college and confesses the state of affairs to her. He begins to neglect Eunice, who is highly indignant, and becomes very cool to Marjorie. Bob Fisher, who is in love with Marjorie, is sent west by Jack to look after the details of a mining scheme and Jack, short of money, cuts Eunice's allowance. She makes a great fuss over this, and in a talk with Marjorie Jack is informed that there is a baby coming. Jack is called away on business, and while he is absent Eunice loses a lot of money gambling, and fearing comment talks of committing suicide. Eunice talks with Nance, who warns her against committing suicide, and tells her to confess to Jack. Jack returns and gives Eunice all the money he has, leaving himself broke. Marjorie comforts her brother, but he tells her that things have gone wrong, and the mine is a failure. Marjorie tells Eunice, who becomes despondent and leaves a note for Jack, tries the cowardly way, takes gas and dies. Jack reads the note and goes insane. Eunice, in the halls of Death, sees Death, who tells her she is not dead, but must wait until her time comes. Death shows Eunice her home with Jack crazy. Jack sees her. and Eunice sees Marjorie and the nurse and Marjorie greeting Bob Fisher. She goes after Bob, and the face of Death changes as he sees the reconciliation. Marjorie and Bob marry. Jack's insanity continues. Eunice is there and is seen by Jack but invisible to the others. While they are there. Death sends a child to Eunice with the words, "I was to be your child, but now I am to be Marjorie's." Jack, rendered clairvoyant by his insanity, sees and hears this, and makes his first rational remark to the others, saying "Marjorie is to have a little girl," and in surprise Marjorie tells it to Bob. The baby is born, and Jack wants to see it but is refused. Death awakens Eunice, and tells her that whenever she wants Jack's mind restored she is to call on him, but after that she has done so Jack will never see her again. Jack threatens to get the child and kill it if it is not shown to him. Eunice in terror at the danger to child hastily calls on Death to restore Jack's reason, which is done, and she disappears from Jack's sight. With Jack sane again there is a happy reunion of all except Eunice, who sees Death again. Death shows her in his book where she has redeemed herself by her renunciation.
- Young Englishman Peter Waverton loves his fiancee Beatrice Dainton, but can't get Margaret Summers, with whom he had an affair eight years before, out of his mind. Peter's sister Lady Hurley broke up the Peter/Margaret affair by convincing Margaret, her maid, that Peter, who had traveled to the Continent on business, had actually abandoned her. However, Peter is shocked when Margaret accidentally runs into him in London shortly before his wedding is to take place. He's even more shocked when he sees who is accompanying her.
- Young Janet Osborne is stuck in a loveless marriage; her only source of pleasure is her daughter. Janet always dreamed of a career on the stage but never had the chance. One day she meets theatrical agent Geoffrey Allen and decides to try her luck at becoming an actress. But when her husband Mark finds out, he orders her out of the house and keeps their daughter Marcia. Her acting career sputters to a halt also, and Geoffrey takes advantage of her situation to make her his mistress. Years later she finds out that Marcia has become an actress--and has also become involved with Geoffrey.
- Rejected by his sweetheart, who marries a drug addict, the ex-suitor decides to gain some revenge. After the birth of their daughter, the man reports the couple to the authorities as unfit parents because of the father's morphine habit. Then, when both parents are placed in an asylum, he goes to court to win possession of their child, who will inherit a fortune. The parents escape from the asylum, however, and then the husband cures himself of his addiction. Now able to prove their fitness, the couple is allowed to take back their baby, after which they go to give thanks at the small church where they were married.
- Ralph Tudor, rich, and loving children, marries Grace Hamilton, a spoiled society girl, who determines to avoid maternity, and keep up her social fun. Anna Lee works for Tudor, but is blackmailed by her worthless father. Frank Gray, an artist, is in love with Anna, but she thinks she is in love with Tudor. Tudor's partner. Hyatt, is ousted from the firm because he insulted her. Tudor finds that his wife has been avoiding maternity, and she admits that she does not intend to have any children. Tudor takes to drink and his wife gives a dog party. Alone with Anna, Tudor explains matters, and they go away on an illicit honeymoon. Gray finds them. Anna leaves Tudor and he goes to Brazil. He learns that Anna is in trouble, wires Ryan, his confidential clerk, to take money from the safe and place it to her credit. Ryan is assaulted by Anna's father, and is struck by Grace Tudor's automobile. The cash is found on him. Hyatt claims it was stolen from the firm, and that he has an interest in it. Ryan is taken to a hospital, and Lee, in an attempt to kill Hyatt, is himself killed by a fall down a staircase. In Brazil, Tudor's mail tells him of the Ryan affair, and a latter from Grace which causes him to return at once. Anna dies, and her landlady advertises her child for adoption. Grace gets it and a letter which Anna left, stating that Tudor was the child's father. Tudor comes home, and Grace, a changed and repentant woman, permits Tudor to learn to whom the child belongs. She begs forgiveness, which Tudor grants as she exclaims, "It is our baby."
- Nan Perrine, a shop girl in the S. and X. Department Store, of which Irwin is the manager, is unjustly accused of stealing a ring which has been placed in the pocket of her coat by Jenny, another employee of the store. Kirby is the prosecuting attorney of the town and his wife, Violet, is in love with Irwin. Nan declares her innocence. Kirby, who was a friend of Nan's father, thinks she is innocent, but Irwin insists that she is guilty. Kirby agrees to take her as maid for his wife and hold up the indictment for a time. Violet is having a flirtation with Barrett when Nan is taken into the house. Kirby gets a letter warning him of his wife's flirtations. At a party in the evening Nan sees Barrett and Violet go to the piazza and Kirby discovers them. He expostulates with her, and when she answers indignantly he shows her the letter he has received. Nan, after they disappear, finds that she is standing on the note which Kirby has dropped and reads the line, "A scandal would ruin him." Barrett and Violet later meet on the rocks at the shore with Nan and Kirby both watching, unseen by each other, and they go separate ways after Barrett and Violet disappear. At night Kirby 'phones his wife that he will be at the court late and she 'phones to Barrett, who is out when she rings up, and Nan is surprised to see Irwin calling. While he is there Barrett calls up. Irwin demands to know who is calling. She refuses to tell; they struggle for the 'phone; she strikes Irwin with it and kills him. A burglar breaking into the house sees the affair but is unseen. Nan and Violet start to take the body out to the road, but Kirby drives up in his car. Violet, trapped, tells him that Nan has killed Irwin. Nan pleads with him not to have her arrested, and when his back is toward her. escapes through a window. Kirby and his wife have an affectionate scene, while the burglar follows Nan. Nan on the rocks writes a letter indicating suicide, with the burglar watching. Removing the body, detectives find Irwin's note to Violet. The burglar reads Nan's note, catches her and tries to make her agree to Join his gang. Violet tries to bluff Kirby about any connection between the note and the murder. He threatens arrest; she admits that she killed Irwin and he reproaches her with allowing an innocent girl to be charged with the crime. Detectives come back with Nan's coat and note and Kirby orders the search stopped as Nan is innocent. Detectives learn that it was his wife and tell him that the girl has faked a suicide; that no one will suspect his wife, and they let matters rest until morning. Then Violet packs up her jewels to go to Barrett. Nan is taken to a tough dance. Barrett is there and Nan appeals to him to save her. Barrett is attacked and the whole crowd fights. Barrett and Nan escape, aided by a dancing girl. He takes her to his looms. Violet goes to Barrett's room and is shocked to see him come in with Nan. She faints. Kirby at home finds Violet away. Nan tells Barrett they must get Violet home. Nan will take her there. As they get there in a cab, Kirby comes out and sees the driver carrying the body with Nan beside him; he slips back into the house and opens the door when Nan rings. She tells him the story. Doctors declare Violet died from heart failure. Kirby tells Nan this is the second time that night she has sacrificed herself to save him and he knows now that she did not commit the first crime, the theft.
- Messalla, the embodiment of youth and innocence, lives in an old house in Washington Square, New York City, with her father, who has been ruined financially and lost his wife through the lure of Fifth Avenue. He tells Messalla that the thoroughfare is a dragon lying in wait for victims. Messalla starts out to find the dragon and goes up the avenue. Her meetings with various people bring destruction and death to those who had wrought her father's ruin, although she is unconscious of the effect she is having on their lives. Messalla escapes the wiles of the white slaver. She allows a discarded flame of a big merchant to take her place at dinner to which she has been invited, and the merchant suffers at the hands of the discarded woman. A policeman's attention is attracted to Messalla and a man is killed by an automobile while he is looking at her. At a lacemaker's shop a wealthy young woman is tempted to take a bit of lace because Messalla has admired it, but she is caught and jailed. There is a robbery affecting some papers which have been taken and replaced by a bomb, and Messalla gives the package to a woman who turns out to be her father's lost wife; the house is destroyed after the woman and Messalla leave. There is a reconciliation. All those injured were people who had injured her father, and the dragon has been slain by Messalla's youth and innocence.
- Fanny Lawson falls in love with Stephen King, the man who pulled her from the river after her runaway horse plunged into the icy waters. Forsaking the love of Canadian Mounted Policeman John Cross, Fanny marries Stephen and moves to the city. King turns out to be an experienced counterfeiter, who soon tires of Fanny and leaves her. When government agents later search her apartment, they discover King's plates and send Fanny to jail as an accomplice. Meanwhile John Cross, court-martialed for alleged cowardice, enlists in the United States Army for service in the Philippines. Redeeming his honor in war, he returns to New York wounded, where he again meets Fanny and the two fall in love. When King reappears, he becomes insanely jealous, starts trouble and is fatally shot by the police during a melee. Before he dies, he clears Fanny's name, thus freeing her to marry Cross.
- Ed Andrews, a young shipping clerk, is in love with Dora Birch, and has as rival Tom Matthews, but wins the girl, much to his mother's satisfaction. A raise in salary hastens their marriage and two years later their baby arrives. Andrews, celebrating the event, goes to the corner bar with George Gardner, his chum, and, after several drinks, Gardner gets into a fight with Jim Matthews, Tom's brother, knocking him down with a blow, Matthew's head striking the pavement, causing his death. George runs away, and Ed bends over Matthews, trying to raise him. The crowd threatens him and he starts to run, but is soon caught. In the morning he is fined for disorderly conduct, and is near freedom when word comes that Matthews is dead, and he is held for murder. Tom is a ward detective, and four months after the arrest, swears that Jim was killed while resisting highway robbery. Ed is sentenced to death, and the shock kills his wife, his mother taking the child and rearing her. She pleads with the Governor, and in view of the evidence he commutes Ed's sentence to imprisonment for life. His mother tells him of his wife's death, and, with his nerve crushed, he begins his prison life. Nineteen years later his daughter falls in love with Paul Matthews, son of the man who had sworn away his life. Ed's mother continues her efforts in his behalf, and Gardner, dying in a distant city, tells the truth about the assault. Ed is pardoned and meets his daughter for the first time in the warden's office. Ed and his daughter are having luncheon on the beach when he sees a man fall from a boat, swims out to save him and brings him to shore, but the man is dead and Ed recognized the body as that of Tom Matthews, the brother of the man his friend had killed, and on whose evidence he had spent twenty years in prison. Then he feels that while nothing can give him back his lost youth, his wasted life and the wife he loved, he has overtaken the man who was responsible for his troubles.