ied her father. "I'll
leave our door ajar, and we can hear if anyone goes into the Dalwood
rooms. As soon as some of them return we will tell them what has
taken place."

Alice helped herself to the needed salt, and the meal began, with
pauses now and then to learn if there was any movement in the flat
across the hallway. Presently footsteps were heard, and proved to be
those of Russ himself.

"Plumber!" he exclaimed. "So he was masquerading as that; eh?" the
moving picture operator exclaimed when Alice told him what had
occurred. "You're right, he was after my patent," and a worried look
came over his face.

"Did he get it?" asked Ruth, anxiously.

"No, for it isn't here. The model is at a machine shop on the East
Side, and several of the attachments are being made from it to be
tested."

"Then it's all right," declared Alice, in a tone of relief.

"Yes--and no," returned Russ. "It's all right, for the time being,
but I don't like what has happened. Simp Wolley must be getting
desperate to come here in broad daylight and rummage the house under
the pretense of being a plumber. It shows, too, that he must be
watching this place, or he wouldn't have known when I went out."

"Hadn't you better notify the police?" suggested Mr. DeVere.

"I'll think about it," agreed Russ. "Of course he hasn't really done
anything yet that they could arrest him for, unless coming into our
apartment without being invited is illegal, and he could wriggle out
of a charge of that sort. No, I'll keep my eyes open. In a little
while, after I obtain my patent, and the attachment is on the
market, he can't bother me. But I don't mind admitting that I'm
worried."

"Then sit down and have something to eat with us," urged Alice, and
Ruth, with a nod and a blush, seconded the request. "You'll be eating
some of your own salt, anyhow," Alice suggested, in fun.

Russ lost a little of his apprehensive air as the meal progressed.
Perhaps it was because Ruth sat opposite. Alice said as much to her
sister afterward, when they were getting ready for bed.

"Don't be silly!" was Ruth's sole reply.

Mr. DeVere attended several rehearsals at the moving picture theater
and, one morning, said:

"Girls, how would you like to come and see me in my new role? We have
a dress rehearsal to-day, so to speak, and we'll "film" the play, as
they call it, to-morrow."

"Oh, let's go, Ruth!" cried Alice, clapping her hands. "I know you'll
enjoy it!"

"I'm s