Plot

Margery Carew and her widowed sister, Anna Prentice, find work in a brokerage firm, James Gray, the junior partner, soon falls in love with Margery, while his boss, William Cleves, does his best to seduce Anna. In fighting off William's advances, Anna kills him, but Margery, hoping to protect Anna's child, takes the blame and then escapes to the West, after which she gets married and begins a new life. Following a lengthy search, the police manage to track her down, but Margery still refuses to save herself by telling the truth about the murder, even though Anna and her child died several years before in a car crash. Finally, however, because he still loves her and because he has been stricken by a deadly disease that will kill him in a few months, James confesses to the murder, thereby freeing Margery to return to her husband.—Pamela Short

Margery Carew and her widowed sister, Anna Prentice, find themselves penniless through the dishonesty of their guardian. Both young women obtain employment in the same office. James Gray, the junior partner in the firm, falls in love with Margery, while William Cleves, the senior partner, casts lustful eyes at the elder sister. Anna agrees to go to Cleves' home to take dictation from him. While there Cleves attacks her, and in defending herself, Anna kills him. Worried at her sister's absence, Margery arrives at the Cleves home just as Anna is fleeing. The younger sister forces the other to permit her to take on herself the blame for Cleves' death, explaining that Anna owes it to her little child to live. Margery goes west and marries. Years later Margery's husband goes to New York, where his watch is stolen by a pickpocket. The thief is arrested and Margery's picture is found in the watch. The police recognize the photograph as that of the young woman they have been seeking for the murder of Cleves. A fake telegram asserting that her husband is ill lures Margery to New York, where she is arrested. Previous to this Margery's elder sister and the latter's child had been killed by an automobile. Margery, though, is so loyal to the memory of her sister that she refuses to tell the true circumstances of Cleves' death even under the merciless questioning of the police. A policeman who had seen her leaving Cleves' home on the night of the tragedy is enmeshing Margery in a net of circumstantial evidence when a veiled woman, dressed just as Margery was the night of the murder, enters the room. The policeman recognizes the clothing. Suddenly the newcomer lifts the veil and is revealed as Gray, the junior partner. He confesses that it was he who killed Cleves. Margery attempts to expostulate with Gray and refuses to accept his sacrifice, but he tells her that he is doing little. He is the victim of a deadly malady, he says, and his physicians have given him only a month to live. Learning this, Margery accepts Gray's offer and returns to her husband to live in the perfect happiness they had been enjoying.—Moving Picture World synopsis