ABOUT “PLAIN MARY”
Mr. Hammond and the actors with him had no idea of the nature of the accident that had happened to theStazy. From the extreme end of Beach Plum Point they could merely watch proceedings aboard the craft, and wonder what it was all about.
The manager could, however, see through his glasses that Ruth Fielding was at the wheel. Her face came out clear as a cameo when he focused the opera glasses upon her. And at the change in the girl’s expression he marveled.
Those ashore could do nothing to aid the party on the motor-yacht; and until it got under way again Mr. Hammond was acutely anxious. It rolled so that he expected it to turn keel up at almost any moment.
Before the blasts of rain began to sweep across the sea, however, theStazywas once more under control. At that most of the spectators made for the camp and shelter. But the manager of thefilm corporation waited to see the motor-yacht inside the shelter of Beach Plum Point.
The rain was falling heavily, and not merely in gusts, when Ruth and her friends came ashore in the small boat. The lamps were lit and dinner was over at the main camp. Therefore the automobile touring party failed to see Bella Pike or hear about her arrival. By this time the girl had gone off to the main dormitory with Mother Paisley, and even Mr. Hammond did not think of her.
Nor did the manager speak that evening to Ruth about the hermit’s scenario or his interview with the old man regarding it.
The three girls and Aunt Kate changed their clothing in the little shack and then joined the young men in the dining room for a late supper. Aunt Kate was to stay this night at the camp. There was a feeling of much thankfulness in all their hearts over their escape from what might have been a serious accident.
“Providence was good to us,” said Aunt Kate. “I hope we are all properly grateful.”
“And properly proud of Ruthie!” exclaimed Helen, squeezing her chum’s hand.
“Don’t throw too many bouquets,” laughed Ruth. “It was not I that tore Jennie’s cape out of the propeller. I merely obeyed the skipper’s orders.”
“She is a regular Cheerful Grig again, isn’t she?” demanded Jennie, beaming on Ruth.
“I have been a wet blanket on this party long enough. I just begin to realize how very unpleasant I have been——”
“Not that, Mademoiselle!” objected Henri.
“But yes! Hereafter I will be cheerful. Life is worth living after all!”
Tom, who sat next to her at table (he usually managed to do that) smiled at Ruth approvingly.
“Bravo!” he whispered. “There are other scenarios to write.”
“Tom!” she whispered sharply, “I want to tell you something about that.”
“About what?”
“My scenario.”
“You don’t mean——”
“I mean I know what has become of it.”
“Never!” gasped Tom. “Are you—are—you——”
“I am not ‘non compos,’ and-so-forth,” laughed Ruth. “Oh, there is nothing foolish about this, Tom. Let me tell you.”
She spoke in so low a tone that the others could not have heard had they desired to. She and Tom put their heads together and within the next few minutes Ruth had told him all about the hermit’s scenario and her conviction that he had stolen hisidea and a large part of his story from Ruth’s lost manuscript.
“It seems almost impossible, Ruth,” gasped her friend.
“No. Not impossible or improbable. Listen to what that man on Reef Island told me about this hermit, so-called.” And she repeated it all to the excited Tom. “I am convinced,” pursued Ruth, “that this hermit could easily have been in the vicinity of the Red Mill on the day my manuscript disappeared.”
“But to prove it!” cried Tom.
“We’ll see about that,” said Ruth confidently. “You know, Ben told us he had seen and spoken to a tramp-actor that day. Uncle Jabez saw him, too. And you, Tom, followed his trail to the Cheslow railroad yards.”
“So I did,” admitted her friend.
“I believe,” went on Ruth earnestly, “that this man who came here to live on Beach Plum Point only three weeks ago, is that very vagrant. It is plain that this fellow is playing the part of a hermit, just as he plays the parts Mr. Hooley casts him for.”
“Whew!” whistled Tom. “Almost do you convince me, Ruth Fielding. But to prove it is another thing.”
“Wewillprove it. If this man was at the RedMill on that particular day, we can make sure of the fact.”
“How will you do it, Ruth?”
“By getting one of the camera men to take a ‘still’ of the hermit, develop it for us, and send the negative to Ben. He and Uncle Jabez must remember how that traveling actor looked——”
“Hurrah!” exclaimed Tom, jumping up to the amazement of the rest of the party. “That’s a bully idea.”
“What is it?” demanded Helen. “Let us in on it, too.”
But Ruth shook her head and Tom calmed down.
“Can’t tell the secret yet,” Helen’s twin declared. “That would spoil it.”
“Oh! A surprise! I love surprises,” said Jennie Stone.
“I don’t. Not when my chum and my brother have a secret from me and won’t let me in on it,” and Helen turned her back upon them in apparent indignation.
After that Ruth and Tom discussed the matter with more secrecy. Ruth said in conclusion:
“If he was there at the mill the day my story was stolen, and now submits this scenario to Mr. Hammond—and it is merely a re-hash of mine, Tom, I assure you——”
“Of course I believe you, Ruth,” rejoined the young fellow.
“Mr. Hammond should be convinced, too,” said the girl.
But there was a point that Tom saw very clearly and which Ruth Fielding did not seem to appreciate. She still had no evidence to corroborate her claim that the hermit’s story of “Plain Mary” was plagiarized from her manuscript.
For, after all, nobody but Ruth herself knew what her scenario had been like!
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 itenough 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 hisbosom 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 aboutthat?” 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 Pikewas 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 manwho 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 thescenario. 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, shewould 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.”
“Andthen?” asked Tom, significantly.
Ruth gave him an understanding smile.
THE END
———————————ByALICE B. EMERSON———————————
12mo. Illustrated.Price per volume, 65 cents, postpaid
Ruth Fielding will live in juvenile Fiction.
RUTH FIELDING OF THE RED MILLor Jasper Parloe’s Secret
RUTH FIELDING AT BRIARWOOD HALLor Solving the Campus Mystery
RUTH FIELDING AT SNOW CAMPor Lost in the Backwoods
RUTH FIELDING AT LIGHTHOUSE POINTor Nita, the Girl Castaway
RUTH FIELDING AT SILVER RANCHor Schoolgirls Among the Cowboys
RUTH FIELDING ON CLIFF ISLANDor The Old Hunter’s Treasure Box
RUTH FIELDING AT SUNRISE FARMor What Became of the Raby Orphans
RUTH FIELDING AND THE GYPSIESor The Missing Pearl Necklace
RUTH FIELDING IN MOVING PICTURESor Helping the Dormitory Fund
RUTH FIELDING DOWN IN DIXIEor Great Days in the Land of Cotton
RUTH FIELDING AT COLLEGEor The Missing Examination Papers
RUTH FIELDING IN THE SADDLEor College Girls in the Land of Gold
RUTH FIELDING IN THE RED CROSSor Doing Her Bit for Uncle Sam
RUTH FIELDING AT THE WAR FRONTor The Hunt for a Lost Soldier
RUTH FIELDING HOMEWARD BOUNDor A Red Cross Worker’s Ocean Perils
RUTH FIELDING DOWN EASTor The Hermit of Beach Plum Point
RUTH FIELDING IN THE GREAT NORTHWESTor The Indian Girl Star of the Movies
RUTH FIELDING ON THE ST. LAWRENCEor The Queer Old Man of the Thousand Islands
RUTH FIELDING TREASURE HUNTINGor A Moving Picture that Became Real
CUPPLES & LEON COMPANY, PublishersNew York
———————————ByALICE 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 FARMor The Mystery of a NobodyAt the age of twelve Betty is left an orphan. Her uncle sends her to live on a farm.
2. BETTY GORDON IN WASHINGTONor Strange Adventures in a Great CityIn this volume Betty goes to the National Capitol to find her uncle and has several unusual adventures.
3. BETTY GORDON IN THE LAND OF OILor The Farm That Was Worth a FortuneFrom 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 SCHOOLor The Treasure of Indian ChasmSeeking the treasure of Indian Chasm makes an exceedingly interesting incident.
5. BETTY GORDON AT MOUNTAIN CAMPor The Mystery of Ida BellethorneAt 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 PARKor Gay Days on the BoardwalkAdventure in high society let loose on the seashore.
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—————————ByLILIAN GARIS—————————
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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 PIONEERSor 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 BELLAIREor Maid Mary’s AwakeningThe 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 CRESTor The Wig Wag RescueLuna 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 COMALONGor Peg of Tamarack HillsThe 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 LEDGEor Nora’s Real VacationNora 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.
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————————————ByMARGARET PENROSE————————————
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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 ROSELAWNor A Strange Message from the AirShowing 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 PROGRAMor Singing and Reciting at the Sending StationWhen 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 ISLANDor The Wireless from the Steam YachtIn 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.
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