Daybreak (1918)

Successful businessman Arthur Frome, who drinks too much, pushes a newsboy under an automobile, causing him severe injuries. His wife Edith then becomes disillusioned with her husband and leaves him. After an absence of a few years, Edith returns to her husband but offers no explanation of her behavior. Soon, though, Arthur becomes suspicious when she and their family friend Dr. Brent frequently visit a house in which a small child is living. Arthur has Edith followed by the wife of one of his employees, whom he has caught stealing, and soon discovers that the child, who is gravely ill, is his own. Edith confesses that she did not want to raise their child under the influence of a drunkard, so she left him in someone else's care. Soon after this confession, Arthur is shot by the husband of the woman who has followed Edith because the man suspected his wife of having an affair. Arthur recovers, as does the child, and through Dr. Brent's intervention, Arthur and Edith happily reconcile and plan a new life.