the time," grumbled Hooley. "And don't
you forget that the boss never allows me to lose sight of it. Your
interest in this picture is greater than mine, Miss Fielding; but my job
is sort of tangled up in it, too. Mr. Hammond is a good man; but he is a
good business man first of all. I am afraid that you will be obliged to
make some changes in the remaining scenes so as to overcome the
difficulty of losing Wonota."

"I will not do it!" cried the girl, this time in anger.

"Better read your contract. If you won't do it, somebody else will have
to. You know, we've got a man at the studio who could change Hamlet into
a slap-stick comedy over night, if the emergency arose."

"I will not agree to have my picture ruined," said Ruth, almost in tears.

"That isn't the way to look at it," Hooley observed more kindly. "Just
see that you save your story yourself instead of letting some other
person do it for you. That's the answer, I fear."

Ruth had no appetite for dinner that evening, but she was obliged to meet
her friends and the actors and actresses who ate at her table with at
least an appearance of cheerfulness.

It was impressed upon her mind more deeply than ever before, however,
that her arrangement with the Alectrion Film Corporation was not wholly
satisfactory. She had learned so much now about the making of a screen
picture that often her advice in the directing of the action was accepted
with admiration by Mr. Hooley. Mr. Hammond was not afraid to go away and
leave the two to film the most important scenes in a script.

And why should she be tied to certain agreements that cramped her?
Especially in a case of this kind. For the sake of saving expense Mr.
Hammond was likely to insist that the artistic part of "The Long Lane's
Turning" should be sacrificed.

Ruth felt that on her part she would spend twenty-five thousand dollars
more (if she had it to spend) in shipping the whole company over the
border and making the remainder of the picture in Canada.

"I am going to be in a position some time where I shall have the say as
to every detail of the picture," she told herself. "I want to be my own
manager and my own producer. Otherwise I shall never be happy--nor will I
ever be sure of making worth-while pictures."

For Ruth took this career of hers very seriously indeed. Because she did
so, perhaps, the fact that Tom Cameron seemed to consider his work so
lightly caused Ruth to criticise the young man harshly.