n assumed name.

"The two of them came to New York about a year ago from somewhere up the
state--a small town near Rochester, I believe. One secured employment in
the motion picture studio--the other, the one calling herself Miss
Norman, worked as a stenographer.

"Her interest in motion pictures having been aroused by her sister's
stories of the life in the studio, she became an ardent picture 'fan,'
and spent every evening watching the films.

"Her attention was particularly devoted to the pictures in which your
daughter appeared, owing to the stories her sister told her about Miss
Morton's marvelous salary, her beauty, the ease with which she had
become famous.

"These stories naturally inflamed her sister's mind. Working for ten
dollars a week, she began to compare her state with that of a girl of
her own age earning a hundred times as much, and gradually the idea
began to possess her that she could become a motion-picture star
herself.

"At first she admired Miss Morton immensely and never missed an
opportunity to see the pictures in which she appeared. Then, convinced
of her own ability as an actress, she made application at the studio at
which her sister worked for a position.

"It seems she haunted the studio for several weeks without getting any
encouragement. Then, more to get rid of her than for any other reason,
one of the directors offered her a place as extra woman in a picture
Miss Morton was doing--a very minor part, in which she had to appear
momentarily as a saleswoman at a counter in a department store.

"Unfortunately, when Miss Morton saw her she happened to say to the
director that she would have preferred a woman of a different type,
dark, taller, so as to provide a more effective foil to her own type of
beauty. As a result, the girl did not get the position."

"I am so sorry," Ruth cried. "I hadn't the least idea who the girl was,
and, of course, I wouldn't have done her any harm for the world."

"I know that," Duvall replied, "but _she_ did not. She is mentally
rather erratic, and she at once conceived the idea that you had singled
her out for persecution; that, in fact, you were envious of her
abilities and meant to prevent her from getting a chance.

"The thing preyed on her mind, and I fancy, unbalanced it a little. She
conceived a violent hatred for you, and with her sister began to plot
revenge.

"Her first move was to persuade her sister to move to the house on
Fifty-seventh