The Fibbers (1917)

Kindness to fellow man seldom fails to reap its own reward, as is proven by the strange adventures of Peter Cort and his wife, Barbara. Cort is a young architect whose struggles have netted him a bankroll of hardly more than $300. His financial straits are rendered more desperate when a hobo, injured in a nearby railroad wreck, is brought to his home for treatment. Despite the doctors' bills John and Barbara nurse the outcast back to health. In an attempt to raise some money, Barbara decides to try and sell a play she wrote at school. The hobo suggests she send it to Phillip Allen, a big producer. She does and to her amazement it is accepted. Simultaneously, John gets a commission from Mrs. Stoddard, a wealthy society woman. In attempting to conceal good fortune from each other for the surprise of their glorious fulfillments, many misunderstandings arise between Bab and John. She sees him with Mrs. Stoddard and believes the worst. He sees her with Allen and suspects her perfidy. The breaking point is almost reached when Bab's play comes out a tremendous success. John reads of it and his wife's authorship in the newspapers, then reveals to her his success. The two are brought to a happy reconciliation with the hobo as their fairy god-father, for it develops that it was through his former friendship with Allen that Bab's play was accepted; and also that Mrs. Stoddard, in reality, is his daughter.