For Her Father's Sins

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Laura Bell runs away from her country home to the city, where she becomes a clerk in a department store. Her brother, Frank, follows her to New York, but is unable to place her. He becomes interested in a settlement house and obtains a position in social service work. Mary Ashton, daughter of the proprietor of the store where Laura works, is shocked to find that her father pays his clerks starvation wages. Matters are brought to a head when Mary rescues Laura, who drops to the street with exhaustion due to ill nourishment. Taking her home in her motor car, Mary sees for herself how the girl is forced to live. She pleads with her father to better his employees' condition. But he stubbornly refuses. Mary leaves her luxurious home to become a working girl herself, and weeks later, her father discovers her in a shirtwaist factory. Meanwhile, she has met Frank Bell at the settlement house. Their interests are identical. One day Laura's landlady comes to the settlement with word that Laura is dying. Mary and Bell both go to see her, and thus the latter discovers that she is his own sister. Bell compels Ashton, at the point of a gun, to go to Laura's bedside. The doctor says that blood infusion alone will save the girl's life. Her brother's heart so weak, but Mary to recompense for her father's sins, volunteers, unknown to him. After the operation, he learns that she is in a critical state and may die. The criminality of his methods is now brought home to Ashton. In gratitude for his daughter's recovery, he changes his policy toward his employees.