red, and Mr. Hewitt's glass rods full of blinding light were
suspended above the studio ceilings of the Super-Picture Corporation.

Palla entered the brick archway. An office on the right bore the name
of Angelo Puma; and that large, richly coloured gentleman hastily got
out of his desk chair and flashed a pair of magnificent as well as
astonished eyes upon Palla as she opened the door and walked in.

When she had seated herself and stated her business, Puma, with a
single gesture, swept from the office several men and a stenographer,
and turned to Palla.

"Is it you, then, who are this Combat Club which would rent from me
the hall next door!" he exclaimed, showing every faultless tooth in
his head.

Palla smiled: "I am empowered by the club to sign a lease."

"That is sufficient!" exclaimed Puma, with a superb gesture. "So! It
is signed! Your desire is enough. The matter is accomplished when you
express the wish!"

Palla blushed a little but smilingly affixed her signature to the
papers elaborately presented by Angelo Puma.

"A lease?" he remarked, with a flourish of his large, sanguine, and
jewelled hand. "A detail merely for your security, Miss Dumont. For
me, I require only the expression of your slightest wish. That, to
me, is a command more binding than the seal of the notary!"

And he flashed his dazzling smile on Palla, who was tucking her copy
of the agreement into her muff.

"Thank you so much, Mr. Puma," she said, almost inclined to laugh at
his extravagances. And she laid down a certified check to cover the
first month's rental.

Mr. Puma bowed; his large, heavily lashed black eyes were very
brilliant; his mouth much too red under the silky black moustache.

"For me," he said impulsively, "art alone matters. What is money? What
is rent? What are all the annoying details of commerce? Interruptions
to the soul-flow! Checks to the fountain jet of inspiration! Art only
is important. Have you ever seen a cinema studio, Miss Dumont?"

Palla never had.

"Would it interest you, perhaps?"

"Thank you--some time----"

"It is but a step! They are working. A peep will take but a moment--if
you please--a thousand excuses that I proceed to show you the
way!----"

She stepped through a door. From a narrow anteroom she saw the
set-scene in a ghastly light, where men in soiled shirt-sleeves
dragged batteries of electric lights about, each underbred face as
livid as the visage of a corpse too long unburie