“You don’t mean it, Ruth?” whimpered the plump girl. “Is that all they were?”
Helen began to giggle. And it covered her own fright. Ruth was rather annoyed.
“If you had remained in bed and minded your own business,” she said to Jennie, “you would not have seen ghosts, or got us up to see them. Now go back to sleep and behave yourself.”
“Yes, ma’am,” murmured the abashed Jennie Stone. “How silly of me! I was never afraid of a cook before—no, indeed.”
Helen continued to giggle spasmodically; but she fell asleep soon. As for Jennie, she began to breathe heavily almost as soon as her head touched the pillow. But Ruth must needs lie awake for hours, and naturally the teeth of her mind began to knaw at the problem of that bit of paper she had found in the sand.
The more she thought of it the less easy it was to discard the idea that the writing on the paper was a quotation from her own scenario script. It seemed utterly improbable that two people should use that same expression as a “flash” in a scenario.
Yet, if this paper was a connecting link between her stolen manuscript and the thief, who was the thief?
It would seem, of course, if this supposition were granted, that some member of the company of film actors Mr. Hammond had there at Beach Plum Point had stolen the scenario. At least, the stolen scenario must be in the possession of some member of the company.
Who could it be? Naturally Ruth considered this unknown must be one of the company who wished Mr. Hammond to accept and produce a scenario.
Ruth finally fell into a troubled sleep with the determination in her mind to take more interest in the proposed scenario-writing contest than she had at first intended.