be a rather broadly stressed burlesque of the
type of picture drama that has done so much to endear the personality of
Edgar Wayne to his public. It was accorded a hearty reception. There was
nothing to which it might be compared save the company's previous
Hearts on Fire, and it seemed to be felt that the present offering had
surpassed even that masterpiece of satire.

The Gills, above referred to, watched the unwinding celluloid with
vastly different emotions. Mrs. Gill was hearty in her enjoyment, as
has been indicated. Her husband, superficially, was not displeased. But
beneath that surface of calm approval--beneath even the look of bored
indifference he now and then managed--there still ran a complication
of emotions, not the least of which was honest bewilderment. People
laughed, so it must be funny. And it was good to be known as an artist
of worth, even if the effects of your art were unintended.

It was no shock to him to learn now that the mechanical appliance in his
screen-mother's kitchen was a still, and that the grape juice the honest
country boy purveyed to the rich New Yorker had been improved in rank
defiance of a constitutional amendment. And even during the filming of
the piece he had suspected that the little sister, so engagingly played
by the present Mrs. Gill, was being too bold. With slight surprise,
therefore, as the drama unfolded, he saw that she had in the most brazen
manner invited the attentions of the city villains.

She had, in truth, been only too eager to be lured to the great city
with all its pitfalls, and had bidden the old home farewell in her
simple country way while each of the villains in turn had awaited her
in his motor-car. What Merton had not been privileged to watch were the
later developments of this villainy. For just beyond the little hamlet
at a lonely spot in the road each of the motor-cars had been stopped by
a cross-eyed gentleman looking much like the clerk in the hotel, save
that he was profusely bewhiskered and bore side-arms in a menacing
fashion.

Declaring that no scoundrel could take his little daughter from him, he
deprived the villains of their valuables, so that for a time at least
they should not bring other unsuspecting girls to grief. As a further
precaution he compelled them to abandon their motor-cars, in which he
drove off with the rescued daughter. He was later seen to sell the cars
at a wayside garage, and, after dividing their spoils with his da