- May Shirwood and Frank Black are in love. But May's sister, Bird, is herself secretly in love with Frank. The lovers know not the secret sorrow of Bird. George A. Thornton, May's employer, a broker of wealth and social prestige, observes that May is comely, coy and altogether desirable. One day. Thornton takes her home in his automobile. May's mother sees in Thornton's manner a suggestion of affection for May. She urges May to encourage her employer. The girl, grief-stricken and stunned by her mother's urgings, rebels against her exhortations, until she can no longer tolerate their aggressive and aggrieved note. Out of filial duty, placing her mother's desires above her own, she dismisses Frank and accepts Thornton. Frank looks through the window of May's home and sees her marriage to Thornton. Thornton spends his evenings at clubs and cafés and invariably returns home in a drunken stupor. May, who has jewels, costly dresses and all the other idle items of feminine craving, is doomed to discover the sad truth that these do not make up for the great lack of tenderness and companionship. And one night it happens. He returns home in a state of incoherent intoxication, and attempts to make love to her. Overcome with nausea at the repellent sight, she designs to leave the room, when her husband stops her egress, brutally takes hold of her and tells her she is his, his to do with as he sees fit, that he has bought her, that her jewels and her silken gowns are the price of her chosen slavery, and she decides to go home. She comes to the house, looks through the window, and sees there a sight as on such a night another bad seen, sees her sister being given in marriage to Frank. She realizes the bargain she has made, the cost she has paid for the velvet and gilt of wealth, and slowly wends her way back to the gilded cage.—Moving Picture World synopsis
It looks like we don't have any synopsis for this title yet. Be the first to contribute.
Learn moreContribute to this page
Suggest an edit or add missing content