- Sybil marries George Bruce, an alcoholic 20 years her senior, to provide for her crippled sister Helen and her brother Geoffrey. Bruce becomes jealous of Sybil's attentions to young physician Robert Acton, and when Bruce suffers a heart attack and calls for Digitalis, Sybil allows the vial to break and he dies. She inherits her husband's fortune, which she retains on the condition that she does not remarry, and has Helen cured by an operation. Although Sybil and Acton fall in love, he refuses to commit himself without a legal marriage. Meanwhile, Helen, who has drifted into a dissolute life, is abducted and is about to be forced into marriage when Sybil and Acton rescue her from a fire. Family nurse Minnie confesses in her dying moments that she poisoned Bruce. Realizing that her money has yielded more grief than happiness, Sybil consents to give up the fortune and marry Acton.—Pamela Short
- Sybil Grayshaw, an orphan, has a younger brother, Geoffrey, and a crippled sister, Helen, dependent upon her. To provide a home for them, she marries George Bruce, who is twenty years her senior. Bruce is a philanderer, so he decides to get Sybil out of the way by sending her, along with her brother and sister, to his mountain camp to spend the summer. There, Sybil's only assistant is Minnie, who has nursed the three Grayshaws since they were young. Dr. Robert Acton lives a few miles from the camp, and is called in when Helen gets ill. Sybil is attracted to Acton.
Bruce visits the camp, and a sudden storm arises while Acton and Geoffrey are out on the lake in a canoe. When the pair return, Bruce notices Sybil's relief at seeing Acton is safe, and concludes the two are having an affair. He orders Acton out of the house, then accuses his wife of infidelity. Geoffrey tries to intercede, but Bruce beats him up and tells him to leave with Acton, yelling "do you want to go with him, and take your crippled sister with you?" The next time Bruce pays a visit to the camp, he shows Sybil a will he has drawn up, in which, upon his death, she will inherit all his estate, but will forfeit it to charity should she remarry. Sybil asks Bruce to give her money so that Helen can see a surgeon in Paris who may cure her. After Minnie plies Bruce with liquor, he agrees on the condition that Helen "be nice to him." Sybil is repulsed by his suggestion, and calls him a filthy beast. The two begin to fight, and Bruce says that he will destroy the will and create one that leaves Sybil penniless. As he tries to retrieve the will from his desk, he suffers a heart attack and yells for Sybil to get him his digitalis. Sybil is about to give him the medicine when she thinks about his "proposition" for Helen. She lets the medicine fall to the floor, and runs from the room. She meets Minnie, who is just entering. Minnie pronounces Bruce dead, then cleans up the spilled medicine. Sybil scoops up the will, realizes she can now provide for her brother and sister.
But she loses Acton's attentions, as he states he cannot stay friends with a rich young widow. Minnie also declares that she and Sybil must part ways. Sybil sends Geoffrey to college and goes abroad with Helen. After a few years, Helen is cured of her affliction, and has turned into a spoiled young woman. Geoffrey, who has no need to work, joins the fast crowd and is expelled from college. Sybil then reads that Dr. Acton is engaged to a society woman. She meets Acton, by coincidence, a few days later and is relieved to discover that it is his cousin that is engaged, and not him. When Acton learns the details of Bruce's will, he realizes he cannot be accused of being a fortune hunter, so he decides to renew his acquaintance with Sybil. Meanwhile, Geoffrey and Helen continue to associate with unseemly characters. When Sybil is slightly burned in an accident, Acton is there to help her, and decides to propose for fear he might lose her. When Helen realizes that her mother will lose out on the estate, she is livid. Then Geoffrey asks Sybil for $25,000, and when she refuses, he makes a fake attempt at shooting himself. Sybil takes the revolver, and gives in, and also tells Helen she will not marry Acton.
That evening, Sybil meets Acton for dinner to tell him she cannot marry him, and she catches the eye of Sir Francis Maynard, an explorer. The two begin seeing each other, and eventually Maynard tells Sybil he loves her. She says she will gladly marry him, but then he tells her marriage is impossible - he has an estranged wife who will never divorce him. Sybil, despondent, returns to her room, where she sees someone rifling her safe where her jewels are stored. She takes the pistol and confronts the burglar, only to discover it is Geoffrey. At that moment, her maid, Elise, enters, and orders Geoffrey to return the contents of the safe or she will call the police. Geoffrey hands over the jewels, but Sybil gives them back to her son, saying she never wants to see them again. Geoffrey accepts the jewels, and clears out. When Sybil collapses, Elise gets Sybil's private address book, sees Dr. Acton's name, and calls him, not realizing he knows Sybil. Acton comes over, and tells Sybil he still loves her. As the two go back and forth, Minnie calls from a tavern and tells Sybil that Helen is in trouble. Geoffrey bursts into the room, having overhead the phone conversation, and resolves to help his sister.
They proceed to the tavern, where Helen, intoxicated, is about to be forced into a sham marriage. Minnie breaks up the proceedings and helps Helen escape. The pair hide in a garage, but are pursued. Minnie holds a gasoline can near a lantern and threatens to kill them all if they harm Helen. One of the men runs out of the garage and runs into Sybil, who realizes that Minnie is inside. Sybil and the rest rescue Helen and Minnie, then Sybil claims that this is what her fortune has brought them all. Acton tells Sybil not to blame herself, and offers to marry her. Sybil refuses, and decides that her money will go to charity as it would have gone had she married again. At this point, Minnie steps forward and confesses that she killed Bruce - she had placed rat poison in his drink, and all the digitalis in the world would not have helped him. Minnie offers to surrender to the police, but Acton shakes his head - so Minnie goes her away. Sybil's siblings gather around her, as does Acton.
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