Her Atonement (1915)

John De Forrest, owner of a fashionable gambling den, seeks out fortune-possessing persons and through the aid of Lil, a beautiful but heartless blonde, lures them to his gambling den, where he rids them of their fortunes. In this manner, De Forrest lures a young millionaire named Jack Bryce, to his den, where Bryce loses all his fortune. Bryce feels his disgrace deeply and leaves for the west. He arrives in a mining town and is befriended by the minister because he saved his life. De Forrest, meanwhile, makes advances to Phillis, Bryce's sweetheart, and they marry. He gives Lil some money and tells her to go away. She arrives at the same town where Bryce is and engages herself as a singer in Gus Ward's gambling den. She becomes stranded and writes to De Forrest for more money. He refuses. She is very angry and informs against him. The police raid his place, but he kills a policeman and escapes. One night Bryce meets Lil in Gus's den and she tells him of De Forrest's schemes. Bryce returns home and finds the minister dead, who wills Bryce his entire fortune, provided he becomes a minister. Phillis, meanwhile, also arrives in the same town where Bryce and Lil are and is engaged in Lil's place. She meets Lil and they quarrel and are separated by Jack. He recognizes Phillis and shows her a notice of De Forrest's death. Seeing that, she marries him. A year later, De Forrest wanders into the same town, and sees Jack and Phillis with their baby. He is greatly angered and goes to Gus's den, where he meets Lil, who is now a charity worker. He wants her to take a note to Phillis demanding money or he will expose her, but she refuses. A quarrel follows in which De Forrest kills himself accidentally. Lil breathes a sigh of relief when she sees that she saved, by her atonement, the lives of two happy people.