s a wise guy he'll go all through the piece and
never get on that it's funny. See, his part's dead straight and serious
in a regular drama, and the less he thinks he's funny the bigger scream
he'll be. He's got to be Harold Parmalee acting right out, all over the
set, as serious as the lumbago--get what I mean?"

"I got you," said the girl, "and you'll get him to-morrow morning. I
told him to be over with his stills. And he'll be serious all the time,
make no mistake there. He's no wise guy. And one thing, Jeff, he's as
innocent as a cup--custard, so you'll have to keep that bunch of Buckeye
roughnecks from riding him. I can tell you that much. Once they started
kidding him, it would be all off."

"And, besides--" She hesitated briefly. "Somehow I don't want him
kidded. I'm pretty hard-boiled, but he sort of made me feel like a
fifty-year-old mother watching her only boy go out into the rough world.
See?"

"I'll watch out for that," said Baird.

CHAPTER XII. ALIAS HAROLD PARMALEE

Merton Gill awoke to the comforting realization that he was between
sheets instead of blankets, and that this morning he need not obscurely
leave his room by means of a window. As he dressed, however, certain
misgivings, to which he had been immune the day before, gnawed into
his optimism. He was sober now. The sheer intoxication of food after
fasting, of friendly concern after so long a period when no one had
spoken him kindly or otherwise, had evaporated. He felt the depression
following success.

He had been rescued from death by starvation, but had anything more
than this come about? Had he not fed upon the charity of a strange girl,
taking her money without seeing ways to discharge the debt? How could he
ever discharge it? Probably before this she had begun to think of him as
a cheat. She had asked him to come to the lot, but had been vague as to
the purpose. Probably his ordeal of struggle and sacrifice was not yet
over. At any rate, he must find a job that would let him pay back the
borrowed twenty-five dollars.

He would meet her as she had requested, assure her of his honest
intentions, and then seek for work. He would try all the emporiums
in Hollywood. They were numerous and some one of them would need
the services of an experienced assistant. This plan of endeavour
crystallized as he made his way to the Holden lot. He had brought his
package of stills, but only because the girl had insisted on seeing
them.

The C