Return of William Marr

William Marr, a drunkard, deserts his wife because she refuses to give him money for liquor. Meeting up with a tramp, Marr gives up his clothes for a flask of whiskey. A few hours later the tramp, wearing Marr's garb, is killed by a freight train and his features so mangled that recognition is impossible. Mrs. Marr believes the body to be that of her husband, recognizing the clothes. Marr reads notice of the accident in the paper, decides to let matters rest as they are and disappears. Seven years later Mrs. Marr is happily married to a wealthy society man, and her memory of Marr is becoming but a faint thread when one night she is suddenly confronted by him in her drawing-room. Marr is bearded, reveals his identity and explains his being alive. Learning of her second marriage, he agrees to keep silent if she will supply him with money. She allows him to blackmail her for several days, then one night she has no money and he takes a necklace. Rendered desperate, she attempts to cower him with a revolver, but he tears it from her hand and is cautioning her when the gun is accidentally discharged and he falls dead in the chair. A moment later her husband rushes in with an officer, having heard the shot outside, and the secret of the past is forever sealed when she explains the dead man was a burglar and she killed him in self-defense.