"The man Russ had the trouble with that day--Simp Wolley--who tried to get his patent!" Alice almost spoke the words aloud.

"The--the leak is fixed," the man went on.

"You--you--" stammered Alice. But the man did not stay to hear, but hurried downstairs.

Alice burst in on her sister and father.

"Oh!" she exclaimed. "That man--he--he was in the Dalwood kitchen!"

"What man?" asked Mr. DeVere, starting forward.

"The one who was after Russ's patent! Quick, can't you get him?"

Mr. DeVere ran into the hall, but the man had gone. The Dalwood kitchen door was still open, and a hasty look through the apartment showed none of the family could be at home.

"Could he have stolen the patent?" cried Alice, when the excitement had quieted down.

"We can't tell until Russ comes home," replied her father. "I'll leave our door ajar, and we can hear if anyone goes into the Dalwood rooms. As soon as some of them return we will tell them what has taken place."

Alice helped herself to the needed salt, and the meal began, with pauses now and then to learn if there was any movement in the flat across the hallway. Presently footsteps were heard, and proved to be those of Russ himself.

"Plumber!" he exclaimed. "So he was masquerading as that; eh?" the moving picture operator exclaimed when Alice told him what had occurred. "You're right, he was after my patent," and a worried look came over his face.

"Did he get it?" asked Ruth, anxiously.

"No, for it isn't here. The model is at a machine shop on the East Side, and several of the attachments are being made from it to be tested."

"Then it's all right," declared Alice, in a tone of relief.

"Yes--and no," returned Russ. "It's all right, for the time being, but I don't like what has happened. Simp Wolley must be getting desperate to come here in broad daylight and rummage the house under the pretense of being a plumber. It shows, too, that he must be watching this place, or he wouldn't have known when I went out."

"Hadn't you better notify the police?" suggested Mr. DeVere.

"I'll think about it," agreed Russ. "Of course he hasn't really done anything yet that they could arrest him for, unless coming into our apartment without being invited is illegal, and he could wriggle out of a charge of that sort. No, I'll keep my eyes open. In a little while, after I obtain my patent, and the attachment is on the market, he can't bother me. But I don't mind admitting that I'm worried."

"Then sit down and have something to eat with us," urged Alice, and Ruth, with a nod and a blush, seconded the request. "You'll be eating some of your own salt, anyhow," Alice suggested, in fun.

Russ lost a little of his apprehensive air as the meal progressed.

Perhaps it was because Ruth sat opposite. Alice said as much to her sister afterward, when they were getting ready for bed.

"Don't be silly!" was Ruth's sole reply.

Mr. DeVere attended several rehearsals at the moving picture theater and, one morning, said:

"Girls, how would you like to come and see me in my new role? We have a dress rehearsal to-day, so to speak, and we'll "film" the play, as they call it, to-morrow."

"Oh, let's go, Ruth!" cried Alice, clapping her hands. "I know you'll enjoy it!"

"I'm sure I will," agreed Ruth. Her att.i.tude toward the movies was also changing.

Together father and daughters went. It did Alice good to see how Mr.

DeVere was welcomed by his fellow actors. He had already made himself friendly with most of them.

As Alice and Ruth came into the big studio, where a battery of cameras were clicking away, the two girls became aware of the looks cast at them by those not actually engaged in some scene. And, while most of the looks were friendly, those from two of the players were not.

Miss Pennington and Miss Dixon, standing together at one side of a section of a log cabin, whispered to each other.

"Ah, Mr. DeVere!" called Mr. Pertell. "Glad you're here; we were waiting for you."

"I hope I'm not late!" replied the actor, huskily, with a proper regard for not delaying a rehearsal.

"Oh, no. You're ahead of time if anything, and I'm glad of it. We'll have to set the smuggling play aside for a time. One of my men isn't here, and I can slip in your scenes now, and be that much ahead. So if you'll get ready we'll go on with 'A Turn of the Card.'"

"Yes, Mr. Pertell--certainly. Let me present you to my daughters. I believe you have met one."

"Yes--Miss Alice. I am glad to know the other one," and he bowed to Ruth. Then he hurried away. Mr. Pertell always seemed to be in a hurry.

Mr. DeVere went to his dressing room to don the costume of the character he was to represent--a wealthy banker--and Ruth and Alice gazed with interest at the various scenes going on about them.

While there were many persons connected with the Comet Film Company, there were certain princ.i.p.als who did most of the work. Among them, excepting Mr. DeVere, was Wellington Bunn, an old-time actor, who had long aspired to Hamlet, but who had given it up for the more certain income of the movies. Then there was Mrs. Margaret Maguire (on the bills as Cora Ashleigh) who did "old women" parts, and did them exceedingly well. She had two grandchildren, Tommy and Nellie, who were often cast for juvenile roles.

Carl Switzer was a joy to know. A German, with an accent that was "t'icker dan cheese," to use his own expression, he was a fund of happy philosophy under the most adverse circ.u.mstances. And on his round face was always a smile. He did the "comic relief," when it was needed, which was often.

Exactly opposite him in character was Pepper Sneed, the "grouch" of the company. Nothing ever went the way Pepper wanted it to go, from the depiction of a play to the meals he ate. No wonder he had dyspepsia. He was always apprehensive of something going to happen and when it did--well, they used to say that Pepper was the original "I told you so!"

Pearl Pennington and Laura Dixon have already been mentioned. Paul Ardite, who played opposite to Miss Dixon, was a good looking chap, with considerable ability. It was rumored that he and the ingenue--but there, I am not supposed to tell secrets.

Had it not been for "Pop" Snooks, I am sure the Comet Film Company would never have enjoyed the success it did. For Pop was the property man--the one of all work and little play. On him devolved the task of manufacturing at short notice anything from a castle to a police station.

And the best part of it was that Pop could do it. He was ingenuity itself, and they tell the story yet of how, when on the theatrical circuit, he made a queen's throne out of two cheese boxes and a board, and a little later in the same play, made from the same materials a very serviceable dog-cart.

As usual in the studio, several plays were going on at the same time--or, rather, parts of plays.

"Come on now!" called Mr. Pertell, sharply. "Get ready for that safe robbery scene. Pop, where's that safe?"

"It's being used as part of the wall in the dungeon in that 'Lord Scatterwait' scene," answered the property man.

"Well, hustle it over here, and get something else for the dungeon wall. I need that safe."

"That's the way it goes!" grumbled Pop as he scurried about. But that was all the fault he found, and presently the hole in the dungeon wall, caused by the removal of the safe with a painted canvas on it to represent stones, was filled by some boards taken from a fence used in a rural love drama.

"I say now, dot's not right!" spluttered Mr. Switzer, who as a country boy was making love to a country la.s.s, (Miss Dixon). "Dot's not right, Pop. You dake our fence avay, und vat I goin' t' lean on ven I makes eyes at Miss Dixon? Ve got t' haf dot fence, yet!"

"I'll make you another in a minute!" cried Pop. "You don't go on for ten minutes."

"Mine gracious! Vot a business!" exclaimed the German, his round face showing as much woe as he ever allowed it to depict. "Dot vos a fine fence, mit der evening-glory vines trailing 'round mit it. Ach, yah!"

"Never mind," said Miss Dixon, "Pop will fix us up," and while she was waiting she strolled over to where Paul Ardite was talking to Alice. Russ Dalwood had come in and had greeted Ruth and Alice, and then, in response to an unseen gesture from Paul, had introduced him.

Both girls liked the young fellow, who seemed quite interested in Alice.