The Living Lie

• Watchlist

Morrell, a noted sculptor, meets Annette, a girl of the underworld. The two become well acquainted. At one of his studio affairs Annette attends with a number of girls of like caliber. The sculptor admires the girl's figure and is thinking of using her to pose for him. After several little affairs she goes to him and the two live at his rooms adjoining the studio. Forrest Stanley, a rising young physician who has a reputation as a specialist in children's diseases, meets Annette. She had been present when a child was run over and assisted the doctor in caring for the child. Annette's sympathy for the child has aroused something within her which lifts her above her sort of life. When Annette returns to the studio the sculptor gets her to pose for a statue and speaks crossly to her. This determines her and she leaves. She gets work at the children's hospital and later she and Forrest renew their friendship. The acquaintance ripens into love, but Annette, thinking of her past, refuses to marry him. He finally persuades her to marry him in spite of her past. A year and a half pass and Annette and Forrest are very happy with the baby. Through a friend Morrell and Forrest become acquainted. Morrell eventually comes to the house and is surprised to find Annette as Forrest's wife. He keeps the secret of knowing Annette from Forrest and tells her that unless she consents to pose for the unfinished statue he will tell her husband of their former relations. Annette, frantic, consents to go to his studio dressed only in a drapery. As soon as she gets inside she realizes the trap Morrell has set for her. He tries to thrust his advances upon her, but she holds him off. Her husband enters in the midst of the struggle and he accuses her of intimacy with the sculptor. She tries to explain, but Morrell tells Forrest his suspicions are justified. Annette hurries home and a big scene follows between husband and wife, wherein she is ordered to leave home. She starts to take the child, but Forrest tells her she cannot take it. Torn with anguish because of her broken happiness she determines to have the child at any cost and tells her husband that the child is not his. He allows her to take the child with her. Some time later the child becomes very ill and Annette is told that the only hope for recovery is an operation by Dr. Stephens. She is in despair, but finally goes to him and tells of the child. He refuses her appeal and she, frantic for fear she will lose the child, seeks out Morrell and tries to force him to go to the office. The child is left alone with the doctor and his professional sympathy overcomes his scruples. His better nature asserts itself and he operates on the child with success. Morrell refusing to accompany Annette to the doctor's office, is threatened by her with death, but he wrests the gun from her hands and as he looks at her cowering figure what little manhood is left in revived and he promises to go and clear her name. When the two arrive the child is pronounced out of danger. Morrell tells Forrest that Annette has been true to him since her marriage and he only accused her of wrongdoing to serve his own purpose. A reconciliation takes place between husband and wife.