Life's Shop Window (1914)

Destitute English orphan Lydia Wilton, is the overworked servant of Mr. and Mrs. John Anderson and their spoiled daughter Bella. Lydia meets Bernard Chetwin and secretly marries him, and then meets and is befriended by Eustace Pelham, a wandering philosopher who expounds his theory of "life's shop window," that, like children's toys, destinies are chosen for brilliance and superficiality rather than real merit. Bernard leaves England to establish a home for himself, Lydia, and their expected child, in Arizona. After giving birth, Lydia joins Bernard in Arizona, but he is so absorbed with his farm that he neglects her. When Eustace visits the Chetwins, he falls in love with Lydia and persuades her to elope with him. Lydia, however, is convinced by her Indian servant of her child's dependency on her and returns to Bernard without consummating her relationship with Eustace. In time, she earns Bernard's forgiveness and devotion.