Love, Honor and Obey (1920)

A young author of a book containing radical sexual theories Stuart Emmett, is injured when his automobile lunges out of control. He is found by Conscience Williams who takes him to her home, but when her father, a narrow-minded New Englander, reads selections from Stuart's book, he orders the young man out of his house. The couple, who have fallen in love, attempt to communicate through letters, but these are intercepted by Eben Tollman, a wealthy man with an interest in Conscience. When Conscience reads a newspaper story falsely accusing Stuart of scandal, she agrees to marry Tollman. On the eve of the marriage, Marion Holby, the woman linked to Stuart in the slander, comes to Conscience and clears him. The next morning, Conscience discovers her husband drunk and in his hands, the letters that he had intercepted. A scene ensues, and she telephones Stuart for help. During a fight between the two men, Tollman falls into a pool and drowns, freeing Conscience to pursue her true love.