to see her."

"Well--of course she may show up later, although as I say she has
usually been very punctual. I shouldn't be surprised if she is sick.
She's been acting rather peculiarly, the past few days."

"How so?" asked Duvall, quickly.

"I can't say--exactly. I got the impression from her manner that she was
nervous, excited, out of sorts. Merely an impression, but such things
count."

"Telephone me, Emmett," Mr. Baker said, "if she comes in during the next
hour. Come along, Mr. Duvall, you can wait in my office."

They returned to the other side of the immense building, and Duvall sat
down to wait. He felt sure that they were on the right track, and was
impatient to get back to New York and try to locate the missing woman.
The description given by Mr. Emmett left little doubt in his mind that
she and Miss Marcia Ford were one and the same. He sat in Mr. Baker's
office, reading the paper, waiting anxiously for the hour the latter had
specified to pass.

After what seemed an interminable wait, Mr. Baker glanced at his watch,
then rose.

"It is ten o'clock, Mr. Duvall," he announced. "Miss Ford has not come,
or Mr. Emmett would have notified me. I do not see that there is
anything further to be accomplished here."

As he spoke, the telephone bell rang sharply. Mr. Baker picked up the
receiver, listened intently for a few moments, then slammed the receiver
back upon the hook.

"Hell!" he ejaculated softly.

"What is it?" Duvall asked.

"Miss Ford has just reported for work!"

PART III

CHAPTER XII

The announcement, made by Mr. Baker, that Miss Marcia Ford, the film
cutter, had reported for work, filled Duvall with astonishment. He had
expected nothing of the sort, so convinced was he that the girl in
question was the one they were looking for, the one who had been
persecuting Ruth Morton, the motion picture star, with her threats.

He rose from his seat, in Mr. Baker's office at the studio, and turned
toward the door. "If Miss Ford has reported for work," he said, "I had
better take a look at her at once. If she is the woman who escaped from
the cab, last night, I shall have no difficulty in recognizing her. But
I am afraid it is out of the question. Knowing that both you and I had
seen her, when she fainted at the theater, she would not dare to put in
an appearance here to-day. The thing is utterly incomprehensible.

"Still, she might suppose that we would not suspect her, that she