Bondage (1917)

Despite her literary ambitions, country girl Elinor Crawford has advanced no further than a reporter for a New York scandal sheet. During one of her assignments, she meets Evan Kilvert, a lawyer from her home town who is shocked at her Bohemian mode of existence. Elinor has nothing but scorn for him and turns her attentions to Bertie Vawtry, the editor of a racey weekly. He professes to love her, but when Vawtry suddenly marries a wealthy widow, Elinor, disheartened, disappears and it is assumed that she has gone away with Vawtry. Kilvert finds her poverty-stricken in the slums and they are wed. Soon after, married life palls upon her, and Elinor pays a visit to one of her old haunts where she meets Vawtry, whose wife has died. Elinor spurns him, but her husband suspects the worst and as a result she leaves him. Kilvert, learning that his wife has been faithful, finds her in the street depressed and dazed and brings her home. He then administers a beating to her would-be seducer.