at perhaps Mr. Grimes was more at fault than he
actually _was_," said Ruth, boldly. "Surely he did not push her off that
tree!"

"No," said Mr. Hammond, drily. "Did she jump?"

"Jump! Goodness! do you think she is crazy?" demanded Ruth, so shocked
that she quite forgot to be polite.

"Then she did not jump," the manager of the Alectrion Film Corporation
said, quite placidly. "Very well. Tell me what you saw. For, I suppose,
you were on the spot?"

"Yes, sir," said Ruth, not quite sure just then that the gentleman was
altogether fair-minded. Later she understood that Mr. Hammond merely
desired to get the stories of the accident from the observers with neither
partiality nor prejudice.

Ruth repeated just what happened from the time she and her friends arrived
in the Cameron car on the scene, till they reached the Red Mill and Miss
Gray had been put to bed.

"Very clear and convincing. You are a good witness," declared Mr. Hammond,
lightly; but she saw that the story had left an unpleasant impression on
his mind. She did not see how he could blame the motion picture actress;
but she feared that he did.

When Ruth tried to probe into that question, however, Mr. Hammond
skilfully turned the subject to the picturesqueness of the Red Mill and
its surroundings.

"This would make a splendid background for a film," he said, with
enthusiasm. "We ought to have a story written around this beautiful old
place, with all the romance and human interest that must be connected with
the history of the house.

"Do you mind if we go out and look around a little? I would not disturb
Miss Gray until she is perfectly rested and feels like rising."

"Surely I will show you around, sir!" cried Ruth. "Let me get my coat and
hat."

She ran for her sweater and tam-o'-shanter, and joined Mr. Hammond on the
porch. Mr. Hammond said nothing to Grimes, but allowed him to remain in
the limousine.

Ruth took the moving picture magnate down to the shore of the river and
showed him the wheel and the mill-side. The old stone bridge over the
creek, too, was an object of interest. In fact, Ruth had thought so much
about the situation of the Red Mill as a picture herself, that she knew
just what would attract the gentleman's interest the most.

"I declare! I declare!" he murmured, over and over again. "It is better
than I thought. A variety of scene, already for the action to be put into
it! Splendid!"

"And I am sure," Ruth told him, "Uncle