LIFTING THE CURTAIN
Ruth slept peacefully and awoke the next morning in a perfectly serene
frame of mind. She was quite as convinced as ever that she had been robbed
of her scenario; and she was, as well, sure that "John, the hermit," had
produced his picture play from her manuscript. But Ruth no longer felt
anxious and excited about it.
She clearly saw her way to a conclusion of the matter. If the old actor
was identified by Ben and Uncle Jabez as the tramp they had seen and
conversed with, the girl of the Red Mill was pretty sure she would get the
best of the thief.
In the first place she considered her idea and her scenario worth much
more than five hundred dollars. If by no other means, she would buy the
hermit's story at the price Mr. Hammond was willing to pay for it--and a
little more if necessary. And if possible she would force the old actor to
hand over to her the script that she had lost.
Thus was her mind made up, and she approached the matter in all
cheerfulness. She had said nothing to anybody but Tom, and she did not see
him early in the morning. One of the stewards brought the girls' breakfast
to the shack; so they knew little of what went on about the camp at that
time.
The rain had ceased. The storm had passed on completely. Soon after
breakfast Ruth saw the man who called himself "John, the hermit," making
straight for Mr. Hammond's office.
That was where Ruth wished to be. She wanted to confront the man before
the president of the film corporation. She started over that way and ran
into the most surprising incident!
Coming out of the cook tent with a huge apron enveloping her queer, tight
dress and tilting forward upon her high heels, appeared Bella Pike! Ruth
Fielding might have met somebody whose presence here would have surprised
her more, but at the moment she could not imagine who it could be.
"Ara-bella!" gasped Ruth.
The child turned to stare her own amazement. She changed color, too, for
she knew she had done wrong to run away; but she smiled with both eyes and
lips, for she was glad to see Ruth.
"My mercy!" she ejaculated. "If it ain't Miss Fielding! How-do, Miss
Fielding? Ain't it enough to give one their nevergitovers to see you
here?"
"And how do you suppose I feel to find you here at Beach Plum Point,"
demanded Ruth, "when we all thought you were so nicely fixed with Mr. and
Mrs. Perkins? And Mrs. Holmes wrote to me only the other day that you
seemed contented."
"That's right, Miss Fielding," sighed the actor's child. "I was. And Miz
Perkins was always nice to me. Nothing at all like Aunt Suse Timmins. But,
you see, they ain't like pa."
"Did your father bring you here?"
"No'm."
"Nor send for you?"
"Not exactly," confessed Bella.
"Well!"
"You see, he sent me money. Only on Tuesday. Forty dollars."
"Forty dollars! And to a child like you?"
"Well, Miss Fielding, if he had sent it to Aunt Suse I'd never have seen a
penny of it. And pa didn't know what you'd done for me and how you'd put
me with Miz Perkins."
"I suppose that is so," admitted the surprised Ruth. "But why did you come
here?"
"'Cause pa wrote he had an engagement here. I came through Boston, an' got
me a dress, and some shoes, and a hat--all up to date--and I thought I'd
surprise pa----"
"But, Bella! I haven't seen your father here, have I?"
"No. There's a mistake somehow. But this nice Miz Paisley says for me not
to worry. That like enough pa will come here yet."
"I never!" ejaculated Ruth. "Come right along with me, Bella, and see Mr.
Hammond. Something must be done. Of course, Mrs. Perkins and the doctor's
wife have no idea where you have gone?"
"Oh, yes'm. I left a note telling 'em I'd gone to meet pa."
"But we must send them a message that you are all right. Come on, Bella!"
and with her arm about the child's thin shoulders, Ruth urged her to Mr.
Hammond's office--and directly into her father's arms!
This was how Arabella Montague Fitzmaurice Pike came to meet her
father--in a most amazing fashion!
"Pa! I never did!" half shrieked the queer child.
"Arabella! Here? How strange!" observed the man who had been acting the
part of the Beach Plum Point hermit. "My child!"
Mr. Pike could do nothing save in a dramatic way. He seized Bella and
hugged her to his bosom in a most stagy manner. But Ruth saw that the
man's gray eyes were moist, that his hands when he seized the girl really
trembled, and he kissed Bella with warmth.
"I declare!" exclaimed Mr. Hammond. "So your name is
something-or-other-Fitzmaurice Pike?"
"John Pike, if it please you. The other is for professional purposes
only," said Bella's father. "If you do not mind, sir," he added, "we will
postpone our discussion until a later time. I--I would take my daughter to
my poor abode and learn of her experience in getting here to Beach Plum
Point."
"Go as far as you like, Mr. Pike. But remember there has got to be a
settlement later of this matter we were discussing," said the manager
sternly.
The actor and his daughter departed, the former giving Ruth a very curious
look indeed. Mr. Hammond turned a broad smile upon the girl of the Red
Mill.
"What do you know about _that_?" Mr. Hammond demanded. "Why, Miss Ruth,
yours seems to have been a very good guess. That fellow is an old-timer
and no mistake."
"My guess was good in more ways than one," said Ruth. "I believe I can
prove that this Pike was at the Red Mill on the day my scenario was
stolen."
She told the manager briefly of the discovery she had made through the
patriarchal old fellow on Reef Island the day before, and of her intention
of sending a photograph of Pike back home for identification.
"Good idea!" declared Mr. Hammond. "I will speak to Mr. Hooley. There are
'stills' on file of all the people he is using here on the lot at the
present time. If you are really sure this man's story is a plagiarism on
your own----"
She smiled at him. "I can prove that, too, I think, to your satisfaction.
I feel now that I can sit down and roughly sketch my whole scenario again.
I must confess that in two places in this 'Plain Mary' this man Pike has
really improved on my idea. But as a whole his manuscript does not flatter
my story. You'll see!"
"Truly, you are a different young woman this morning, Miss Ruth!"
exclaimed her friend. "I hope this matter will be settled in a way
satisfactory to you. I really think there is the germ 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. Hammond admitted
that the story was much too fine and too important to be filmed here at
this summer camp. He decided to make a great spectacular production of it
at the company's main studio later in the fall.
So Ruth proceeded to force Bella's father to accept two hundred dollars in
payment for what he had done on the story. As her contract with Mr.
Hammond called for a generous royalty, she would make much more out of
the scenario than the sum John Pike had hoped to get by selling the stolen
idea to Mr. Hammond.
The prospects of Bella and her father were vastly improved, too. His work
as a "type" for picture makers would gain him a much better livelihood
than he had been able to earn in the legitimate field. And when Ruth and
her party left Beach Plum Point camp for home in their automobiles, Bella
herself was working in a two-reel comedy that Mr. Hooley was directing.
"Well, thank goodness!" sighed Helen, "Ruth has settled affairs for two
more of her 'waifs and strays.' Now don't, I beg, find anybody else to
become interested in during our trip back to the Red Mill, Ruthie."
Ruth was sitting beside Tom on the front seat of the big touring car. He
looked at her sideways with a whimsical little smile.
"I wish you would turn over a new leaf, Ruthie," he whispered.
"And what is to be on that new leaf?" she asked brightly.
"Just me. Pay a little attention to yours truly. Remember that in a week I
shall go aboard the transport again, and then----"
"Oh, Tom!" she murmured, clasping her hands, "I don't want to think of it.
If this awful war would only end!"
"It's the only war so far that hasn't ended," he said. "And I have a
feeling, anyway, that it may not last long. Henri and I have got to hurry
back to finish it up. Leave it to us, Ruth," and he smiled.
But Ruth sighed. "I suppose I shall have to, Tommy-boy," she said. "And do
finish it quickly! I do not feel as though I could return to college, or
write another scenario, or do a single, solitary thing until peace is
declared."
"And _then_?" asked Tom, significantly.
Ruth gave him an understanding smile.
THE END
* * * * *
THE RUTH FIELDING SERIES
By ALICE B. EMERSON
_12mo. Illustrated. Price per volume, 65 cents, postpaid_
_Ruth Fielding will live in juvenile Fiction_.
RUTH FIELDING OF THE RED MILL
_or Jasper Parloe's Secret_
RUTH FIELDING AT BRIARWOOD HALL
_or Solving the Campus Mystery_
RUTH FIELDING AT SNOW CAMP
_or Lost in the Backwoods_
RUTH FIELDING AT LIGHTHOUSE POINT
_or Nita, the Girl Castaway_
RUTH FIELDING AT SILVER RANCH
_or Schoolgirls Among the Cowboys_
RUTH FIELDING ON CLIFF ISLAND
_or The Old Hunter's Treasure Box_
RUTH FIELDING AT SUNRISE FARM
_or What Became of the Raby Orphans_
RUTH FIELDING AND THE GYPSIES
_or The Missing Pearl Necklace_
RUTH FIELDING IN MOVING PICTURES
_or Helping the Dormitory Fund_
RUTH FIELDING DOWN IN DIXIE
_or Great Days in the Land of Cotton_
RUTH FIELDING AT COLLEGE
_or The Missing Examination Papers_
RUTH FIELDING IN THE SADDLE
_or College Girls in the Land of Gold_
RUTH FIELDING IN THE RED CROSS
_or Doing Her Bit for Uncle Sam_
RUTH FIELDING AT THE WAR FRONT
_or The Hunt for a Lost Soldier_
RUTH FIELDING HOMEWARD BOUND
_or A Red Cross Worker's Ocean Perils_
RUTH FIELDING DOWN EAST
_or The Hermit of Beach Plum Point_
RUTH FIELDING IN THE GREAT NORTHWEST
_or The Indian Girl Star of the Movies_
RUTH FIELDING ON THE ST. LAWRENCE
_or The Queer Old Man of the Thousand Islands_
RUTH FIELDING TREASURE HUNTING
_or A Moving Picture that Became Real_
CUPPLES & LEON COMPANY, Publishers New York
THE BETTY GORDON SERIES
BY ALICE B. EMERSON
_Author of the Famous "Ruth Fielding" Series_
_12mo. Cloth. Illustrated. Jacket in full colors_
_Price per volume, 65 cents, postpaid_
_A series of stories by Alice B. Emerson which
are bound to make this writer more popular than
ever with her host of girl readers._
1. BETTY GORDON AT BRAMBLE FARM
_or The Mystery of a Nobody_
At the age of twelve Betty is left an orphan.
Her uncle sends her to live on a farm.
2. BETTY GORDON IN WASHINGTON
_or Strange Adventures in a Great City_
In this volume Betty goes to the National Capitol to find her
uncle and has several unusual adventures.
3. BETTY GORDON IN THE LAND OF OIL
_or The Farm That Was Worth a Fortune_
From Washington the scene is shifted to the great oil fields of
our country. A splendid picture of the oil field operations of to-day.
4. BETTY GORDON AT BOARDING SCHOOL
_or The Treasure of Indian Chasm_
Seeking the treasure of Indian Chasm makes an exceedingly interesting
incident.
5. BETTY GORDON AT MOUNTAIN CAMP
_or The Mystery of Ida Bellethorne_
At Mountain Camp Betty found herself in the midst of a mystery
involving a girl whom she had previously met in Washington.
6. BETTY GORDON AT OCEAN PARK
_or Gay Days on the Boardwalk_
Adventure in high society let loose on the seashore.
_Send For Our Free Illustrated Catalogue_
CUPPLES & LEON COMPANY, Publishers New York
THE GIRL SCOUT SERIES
BY LILIAN GARIS
_12mo. Cloth. Illustrated. Jacket in full colors_
_Price per volume, 65 cents, postpaid_
_The highest ideals of girlhood as advocated
by the foremost organizations of America
form the background for these stories and while
unobtrusive there is a message in every volume._
1. THE GIRL SCOUT PIONEERS
_or Winning the First B. C._
A story of the True Tred Troop in a Pennsylvania
town. Two runaway girls, who
want to see the city, are reclaimed through
troop influence. The story is correct in scout
detail.
2. THE GIRL SCOUTS AT BELLAIRE
_or Maid Mary's Awakening_
The story of a timid little maid who is afraid to take part in
other girls' activities, while working nobly alone for high ideals.
How she was discovered by the Bellaire Troop and came into her
own as "Maid Mary" makes a fascinating story.
3. THE GIRL SCOUTS AT SEA CREST
_or The Wig Wag Rescue_
Luna Land, a little island by the sea, is wrapt in a mysterious
seclusion, and Kitty Scuttle, a grotesque figure, succeeds in keeping
all others at bay until the Girl Scouts come.
4. THE GIRL SCOUTS AT CAMP COMALONG
_or Peg of Tamarack Hills_
The girls of Bobolink Troop spend their summer on the shores of
Lake Hocomo. Their discovery of Peg, the mysterious rider, and
the clearing up of her remarkable adventures afford a vigorous plot.
5. THE GIRL SCOUTS AT ROCKY LEDGE
_or Nora's Real Vacation_
Nora Blair is the pampered daughter of a frivolous mother. Her
dislike for the rugged life of Girl Scouts is eventually changed to
appreciation, when the rescue of little Lucia, a woodland waif,
becomes a problem for the girls to solve.
_Send For Our Free Illustrated Catalogue_
CUPPLES & LEON COMPANY, Publishers New York
THE RADIO GIRLS SERIES
BY MARGARET PENROSE
_12mo. Cloth. Illustrated. Jacket in full colors_
_Price per volume, 65 cents, postpaid_
_A new and up-to-date series, taking in the
activities of several bright girls who become
interested in radio. The stories tell of thrilling
exploits, out-door life and the great part the
Radio plays in the adventures of the girls and
in solving their mysteries. Fascinating books
that girls of all ages will want to read._
1. THE RADIO GIRLS OF ROSELAWN
_or A Strange Message from the Air_
Showing how Jessie Norwood and her chums became interested
in radiophoning, how they gave a concert for a worthy local charity,
and how they received a sudden and unexpected call for help out
of the air. A girl who was wanted as a witness in a celebrated law
case had disappeared, and how the radio girls went to the rescue is
told in an absorbing manner.
2. THE RADIO GIRLS ON THE PROGRAM
_or Singing and Reciting at the Sending Station_
When listening in on a thrilling recitation or a superb concert
number who of us has not longed to "look behind the scenes" to see
how it was done? The girls had made the acquaintance of a sending
station manager and in this volume are permitted to get on the program,
much to their delight. A tale full of action and not a little
fun.
3. THE RADIO GIRLS ON STATION ISLAND
_or The Wireless from the Steam Yacht_
In this volume the girls travel to the seashore and put in a vacation
on an island where is located a big radio sending station. The big
brother of one of the girls owns a steam yacht and while out with a
pleasure party those on the island receive word by radio that the
yacht is on fire. A tale thrilling to the last page.
_Send For Our Free Illustrated Catalogue_
CUPPLES & LEON COMPANY, Publishers New York