L'ordonnance (1921)

Col. De Limousin is notified by a maid that his wife has been in her bath more than an hour. With the assistance of the orderly he breaks open the door and finds her dead. A letter from her soon reaches him and as he reads there is presented a story showing the events which lead up to her love affair with another officer, starting at the time when she was left an orphan and adopted by the Colonel. As the plot develops, it is also revealed that the orderly, used as a messenger, also declares his love, and the Colonel's wife, in constant fear that he will reveal her secret when she repulses him, finally commits suicide. The Colonel calls the orderly before him and shoots him when he declines to reveal the name of his wife's lover.