r there in Jeff's chair and take the same pose, so I can
compare you with the photo."

Merton obliged. He leaned an elbow on the chair-arm and a temple on the
two straightened fingers. "Is the light right?" he asked, as he turned
his face to the pictured angle.

"Fine," applauded the girl. "Hold it." He held it until shocked by
shrill laughter from the observer. Peal followed peal. She had seemed
oddly threatened with hysteria; perhaps now it had come. She rocked on
her heels and held her hands to her sides. Merton arose in some alarm,
and was reassured when the victim betrayed signs of mastering her
infirmity. She wiped her eyes presently and explained her outbreak.

"You looked so much like Parmalee I just couldn't help thinking how
funny it was--it just seemed to go over me like anything, like a spasm
or something, when I got to thinking what Parmalee would say if he saw
someone looking so much like him. See? That was why I laughed."

He was sympathetic and delighted in equal parts. The girl had really
seemed to suffer from her paroxysm, yet it was a splendid tribute to his
screen worth.

It was at this moment that Baird entered. He tossed his hat on a chair
and turned to the couple.

"Mr. Baird, shake hands with my friend Merton Gill. His stage name is
Clifford Armytage."

"Very pleased to meet you," said Merton, grasping the extended hand.
He hoped he had not been too dignified, too condescending. Baird would
sometime doubtless know that he did not approve of those so-called
comedies, but for the present he must demean himself to pay back some
money borrowed from a working girl.

"Delighted," said Baird; then he bent a suddenly troubled gaze upon the
Gill lineaments. He held this a long moment, breaking it only with a
sudden dramatic turning to Miss Montague.

"What's this, my child? You're playing tricks on the old man." Again
he incredulously scanned the face of Merton. "Who is this man?" he
demanded.

"I told you, he's Merton Gill from Gushwomp, Ohio," said the girl,
looking pleased and expectant.

"Simsbury, Illinois," put in Merton quickly, wishing the girl could be
better at remembering names.

Baird at last seemed to be convinced. He heavily smote an open palm with
a clenched fist. "Well, I'll be swoshed! I thought you must be kidding.
If I'd seen him out on the lot I'd 'a' said he was the twin brother of
Harold Parmalee."

"There!" exclaimed the girl triumphantly. "Didn't I say he'd see it