Children Not Wanted (1920)

When her best friend dies and leaves her four-year-old daughter Betty in her care, orphan Dorothy Crane, feeling unwelcome in the home of her aunt and uncle, takes her charge and heads for New York City. There she discovers that children are not wanted by landlords, and so experiences difficulty finding a place to live, until kindly Mrs. Farley offers her a room. Through the want ads, Dorothy becomes a receptionist for gem dealer Marcus Hazzard, and at her job meets Robert Barrington, a collector. The two fall in love, though Hazzard is also attracted to Dorothy, arousing the jealousy of his business partner, Madame Duval. One day, because Mrs. Farley is ill, Dorothy takes Betty to the office. Calling Dorothy into his private office, Hazzard begins to make sexual advances when a shot rings out, and Hazzard falls to the floor. Dorothy turns in amazement to see Betty standing in the doorway, a smoking pistol at her feet. Believing that the child shot Hazzard, Dorothy takes her and flees. Madame Duval and her Hindu servant, Ali Bey, tell the police that Dorothy killed Hazzard, until Ali finally reveals that Madame Duval fired the shot out of jealousy, thus freeing Dorothy to find happiness with Barrington.