The Clean Heart (1924)

Newspaper editor and successful novelist Philip Wriford suffers a mental breakdown from overwork and worry over having to support orphaned children. To get away from the "other self" he imagines is following him, he wanders into the country and befriends Puddlebox, a philosophical tramp, who sacrifices his own life to save Philip. While recovering in a hospital, he meets Essie who eventually restores him to health and happiness.