Mother Love and the Law (1917)

Desiring the best for his little daughter Marion, impoverished farmer George Leyden agrees to allow her to become the ward of Mrs. John Marshall, a wealthy woman who has taken an interest in the child. Exposed to all the privileges in life, Marion grows into a well educated, beautiful woman and a loyal companion to Mrs. Marshall, who is now an invalid. Marion falls in love with Jimmy Harwood, a wealthy young man, but when Mrs. Marshall's death leaves her husband bereft of companionship, Marion agrees to marry her benefactor. Heartbroken, Jimmy goes abroad where, joined by the formerly brilliant criminal lawyer George Straight, he enters a life of dissipation. Meanwhile, Marshall dies suddenly and his scheming relatives accuse Marion of murder. Pregnant, she goes away to another city where her baby is born. At the time of its birth, another baby is born in an adjoining hospital room, only to die of suffocation. Fearing that the birth of the child may rob them of Marshall's fortune, the relatives maintain that it was Marion's boy who died and that she had gained possession of the other child to assure her fortune. Learning of the situation, Jimmy returns, accompanied by Straight, and after many tribulations, Marion's integrity is established and she is granted her baby and her fortune.