lace several
months before, saved Alice's life, and they had fallen in love, Alice
promising to wed him after the war. He supposed her to be a true
Northern girl, and now he discovered that she was a Southern spy.

There was a strong scene here. Paul leaped from his bed, and tried to
get the papers away from Alice. She, horror-stricken at being discovered
as a spy by her lover, is torn between affection for him and duty to the
South. She throws him from her, as he is weakened by illness, and is
about to escape with the papers, when she fears Paul is dying and she is
stricken with remorse. She decides to give up her task for the sake of
her lover.

Slowly and softly, without awakening the old officer, she puts the
papers back under his pillow and then, stooping over Paul, who has
fainted from loss of blood, she kisses his forehead and goes out in a
"fadeaway."

"Good! Great! Couldn't be better!" cried Mr. Pertell, as Alice came out
of range of the camera. "That was better than I dared to hope. This will
make a big hit!"

CHAPTER XXIII

A BAD FALL

"Have you made up your mind yet, Estelle?"

"No, Ruth! I haven't. I don't know what to do."

The two girls were in Estelle's room. Miss Brown was putting some
protective padding under her outer garments, for in a little while she
was to take part in a desperate ride--one of the last scenes in the big
war play--a ride that had a part in a cavalry charge that was to be made
by the desperate Confederates on the hosts of Unionists, who were
closing in on their enemies. It was to be the last battle--a final stand
of the Southern States, and they were to lose.

But Estelle was to make a desperate ride to try to save the day. This
time she was to pose as a daughter of the South. The ride would
necessarily be a reckless one, and Estelle felt that she might fall; so
she was preparing for it.

"I don't know what to do," she went on to Ruth, who was helping her.
"Sometimes I feel like doing as you and your sister suggest, and let
your father into the secret--and Mr. Pertell too--and have them try what
they can do to discover who I am.

"Then again, as I think it over, I'm afraid. Suppose I should turn out
to be some one altogether horrid?"

"You couldn't, my dear, not if you tried. But if you don't want my
father to know, and would rather work out this mystery yourself, why, I
won't say another word."

"I want to think about it a little more," Estelle said.

Th