urice Pike came to meet her
father--in a most amazing fashion!

"Pa! I never did!" half shrieked the queer child.

"Arabella! Here? How strange!" observed the man who had been acting the
part of the Beach Plum Point hermit. "My child!"

Mr. Pike could do nothing save in a dramatic way. He seized Bella and
hugged her to his bosom in a most stagy manner. But Ruth saw that the
man's gray eyes were moist, that his hands when he seized the girl really
trembled, and he kissed Bella with warmth.

"I declare!" exclaimed Mr. Hammond. "So your name is
something-or-other-Fitzmaurice Pike?"

"John Pike, if it please you. The other is for professional purposes
only," said Bella's father. "If you do not mind, sir," he added, "we will
postpone our discussion until a later time. I--I would take my daughter to
my poor abode and learn of her experience in getting here to Beach Plum
Point."

"Go as far as you like, Mr. Pike. But remember there has got to be a
settlement later of this matter we were discussing," said the manager
sternly.

The actor and his daughter departed, the former giving Ruth a very curious
look indeed. Mr. Hammond turned a broad smile upon the girl of the Red
Mill.

"What do you know about _that_?" Mr. Hammond demanded. "Why, Miss Ruth,
yours seems to have been a very good guess. That fellow is an old-timer
and no mistake."

"My guess was good in more ways than one," said Ruth. "I believe I can
prove that this Pike was at the Red Mill on the day my scenario was
stolen."

She told the manager briefly of the discovery she had made through the
patriarchal old fellow on Reef Island the day before, and of her intention
of sending a photograph of Pike back home for identification.

"Good idea!" declared Mr. Hammond. "I will speak to Mr. Hooley. There are
'stills' on file of all the people he is using here on the lot at the
present time. If you are really sure this man's story is a plagiarism on
your own----"

She smiled at him. "I can prove that, too, I think, to your satisfaction.
I feel now that I can sit down and roughly sketch my whole scenario again.
I must confess that in two places in this 'Plain Mary' this man Pike has
really improved on my idea. But as a whole his manuscript does not flatter
my story. You'll see!"

"Truly, you are a different young woman this morning, Miss Ruth!"
exclaimed her friend. "I hope this matter will be settled in a way
satisfactory to you. I really think there is the ge