The Marriage Market (1917)

In a vain attempt to save her father from financial disaster, Helen Grant marries Bradley Spayden, but before she can reach her father to give him the money he needs, he kills himself. Treated as chattel by her husband, Helen attempts to gain financial independence by selling her thoroughbred horse to Eric Foxhall. While concluding the deal, Foxhall assaults Helen, and in the ensuing struggle, Helen fires a revolver. Believing that she has killed her assailant, she then faints. Meanwhile, Spayden follows his wife to Foxhall's house, shoots him, and escapes through a window. Soon after, Richard Marlowe, Helen's true love, discovers Foxhall's body and, assuming that Helen killed him, pleads guilty to the crime. Helen, ignorant of these machinations, is taken to her mother's house. Upon learning that Marlowe has been pronounced guilty, she rushes to court and confesses to the crime. As Helen testifies, Grimes, Foxhall's butler, swears that he saw Spayden kill Foxhall. Before he can be arrested, Spayden shoots himself, freeing Helen to join Marlowe.