The Prodigal Wife (1918)

Marion Farnham, the wife of a struggling young physician, tires of her husband's neglect and elopes with Thomas Byrne. Thomas promises to retrieve Marion's little daughter Marna from Frederick, but, finding the house empty, he reports that the child has died. Frederick, however, has merely taken Marna to the country to begin a new life. Determined to shield the little girl from the truth, Frederick tells her stories of a sweet and loving mother who died, but actually Marion's life becomes ever more degraded as the years pass. Learning that Frederick has become wealthy, Marion, desperate for money, decides to blackmail him, but when she arrives at the estate, she meets Marna instead. Ashamed, Marion maintains her silence, and after Marna marries and has a daughter of her own, Marion is engaged as the baby's nurse. Realizing that Marna plans to elope with another man, Marion, still under her assumed identity, discloses the sordid details of her own life, and the young wife remains with her family. Having finally atoned for her wrongs, Marion leaves.