STORY

The Colonel is a fine type of the English country gentleman. All the formulas and traditions of his race he holds dear and he takes pride in the assertion that his ancestors were men of honor and women of virtue. While visiting a Glasgow inn with a friend, the Colonel learns that his nephew, Lieutenant Pritchard, is mixed up in an unwholesome affair with a woman. Under the threat of cutting him off, the Colonel compels the nephew to give the woman up. Later the nephew leaves for the front in South Africa. The Colonel advertises for a housekeeper. Nina, the adventuress who had known the son, answers the ad and secures the position. The Colonel is ignorant of the girl’s past, and in six months we find them married. The nephew returns; he recognizes his uncle’s wife with horror. The Colonel is informed, but refuses to believe when his wife denies ever knowing the nephew. Later, the Colonel learns the truth; he writes a note and shoots himself. The adventuress tries to implicate herself, but dies through drinking a glass of poisoned wine discarded by the Colonel. When the note is found it reads, “My ancestors were men of honor and women of virtue. It is the law of my kind. There was no other way.”
– Moving Picture World