rm of a splendid
picture in this 'Plain Mary.'"

"And believe me!" laughed Ruth, "the germ is mine. You'll see," she
repeated.

She proved her point, and Mr. Hammond did see; but the outcome was through
quite unexpected channels. Ruth did not have to threaten the man who had
made her all the trouble. John M. F. Pike made his confession of his own
volition when they discussed the matter that very day.

"I feel, Miss Fielding, after all that you did for my child, that I cannot
go on with this subterfuge that, for Bella's sake, I was tempted to engage
in. I did seize upon your manuscript in that summer-house near the mill
where they say you live, and I was prepared to make the best use of it
possible for Bella's sake.

"We have had such bad luck! Poverty for one's self is bad enough. I have
withstood the slings and arrows of outrageous fortune for years. But my
child is growing up----"

"Would you want her to grow up to know that her father is a thief?" Ruth
demanded hotly.

"Hunger under the belt gnaws more potently than conscience," said Pike,
with a grandiloquent gesture. "I had sought alms and been refused at that
mill. Lurking about I saw you leave the summer-house and spied the gold
pen. I can give you a pawn ticket for that," said Mr. Pike sadly. "But I
saw, too, the value of your scenario and notes. Desperately I had
determined to try to enter this field of moving pictures. It is a terrible
come down, Miss Fielding, for an artist--this mugging before the camera."

He went on in his roundabout way to tell her that he had no idea of the
ownership of the scenario. Her name was not on it, and he had not
observed her face that day at the Red Mill. And in his mind all the time
had been his own and his child's misery.

"It was a bold attempt to forge success through dishonesty," he concluded
with humility.

Whether Ruth was altogether sure that Pike was quite honest in his
confession or not, for Bella's sake she could not be harsh with the old
actor. Nor could he, Ruth believed, be wholly bad when he loved his child
so much.

As he turned over to Ruth every scrap of manuscript, as well as the
notebooks she had lost, she need not worry about establishing her
ownership of the script.

When Mr. Hammond had examined her material he agreed with Ruth that in two
quite important places Bella's father had considerably improved the
original idea of the story.

This gave Ruth the lead she had been looking for. Mr. H