Morals on AllMovie

This romance was based on William J. Locke's novel The Morals of Marcus Ordeyne, which was made into a film once before in 1915. It's one of the last pictures directed by William Desmond Taylor before he was mysteriously murdered. Although Carlotta (May McAvoy) is an English girl, she has been reared in a Turkish harem. Hamdi, the man who has raised her (Nicholas de Ruiz), plans to sell her off to a wealthy old suitor. But Carlotta rebels and escapes with an adventurer who takes her to London. He is killed, and Carlotta is left destitute. In a park she finds Sir Marcus Ordeyne (William P. Carleton), and convinces him to take her home. After she has moved in, Ordeyne finds it impossible to get her to leave, and after a while he doesn't want her to. They fall in love and plan to marry. This does not sit well with Judith Mainwaring (Kathlyn Williams), who was hoping she could land Ordeyne herself. She convinces Carlotta that Ordeyne has agreed to marry her only because he pities her and to stop gossip. Carlotta, stung by this, runs off with Ordeyne's friend, Sebastian Pasquale (William E. Lawrence). A few months later, Judith finds Carlotta in Paris and confesses that she lied, and that Ordeyne has been searching endlessly for her. The lovers are reunited.