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Should She Obey? Synopsis

Inspired by his wife Lorna, shiftless William Gordon discovers a welding process worth millions and becomes president of a large corporation. Henry Blake, a friend of Gordon's from his indolent days, is forced to marry when his girl friend Mamie gives birth to a daughter, who is sent to live in a convent. Becoming infatuated with actress Marie Gibson, Gordon leaves Lorna and his son William, Jr. and promises to install Marie in society. After the dance hall that he is running is raided, Blake blackmails Gordon with the threat of exposing his illicit affair. With the extortion money, Blake deserts Mamie and opens up his own dance hall where he employs his daughter to entertain the idle rich. Meanwhile, both Mamie and Lorna have obtained divorces in Reno and are living together when they learn that Blake intends to force his daughter to marry a wealthy man. Together the women rescue the girl and justice is served when society refuses to sanction Gordon's remarriage to Marie and the pair are driven by ostracism to Europe.

Mother Love and the Law Synopsis

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.