Daughter of Maryland

Beth Treadway, a high-spirited young Southern woman, lives with her father, Major Treadway, and her Aunt Sarah on the Treadway estate, Headland Hall, in Maryland. Beth is being courted by Rippley, a Southerner with questionable morals, when John Standish comes from New York to landscape the grounds of Headland Hall. Standish arouses Beth's antagonism until he rescues Haskell, a hermit living on Treadway land, from a fire. Beth dresses Standish's wounds and eventually comes to admire him. Meanwhile, she learns that Rippley has compromised Dorothy Pennell, the overseer's daughter, and tricks him into marrying Dorothy. Their marriage is short-lived, however, when Rippley is caught by the Major while robbing his safe and kills the old man. At first, Haskell is charged with the murder, but when a piece of Rippley's pajamas is discovered in the Major's hand, he is accused of the crime. Rippley resists arrest and in the ensuing melee is killed by Standish.