Excelso Sacrifício

Two years after the Great War, during which they did relief work together in Belgium, Leonore Bewlay meets her old friend Richard Valyran in Switzerland. Previously their friendship was platonic, but Richard now finds Leonore sexually attractive. On their way to an inn high in the Alps, they are caught in a snow-slide and Leonore's leg is injured. Val carries her to the inn, helps remove her clothes, and, overcome with desire, kisses her madly. This display of lust destroys their friendship. Leonore soon marries Henry Wallis, whom she truly loves, and returns with him to his home in London where she is unpopular with his conservative family, who consider her too outspoken and independent. When Leonore is named as the corespondent in a divorce suit filed by Richard's estranged wife, Henry loses faith in her. When she goes to Richard for consolation, he perceives that she still loves Henry and deliberately walks in front of an oncoming car. As he lies dying in a hospital, Richard has the final satisfaction of seeing Henry and Leonore reconciled, to be saved from the consequences of scandal by his imminent death.