“Was the telephone message anything about the men?” asked Agnes.
“No, just Carrie Poole saying she could come to-morrow night.”
“That’s good.”
Carrie Poole was one of a number of girl and boy friends invited to another little gathering in honor of Nalbro and Hal.
“But, Luke, can you tell us any more about those men and their queer talk of ten thousand dollars?” asked Neale.
“Not a thing,” answered the collegian. “I thought it queer at the time, and for that reason I noticed the men rather more closely than otherwise I should have done. But, as a matter of fact, I thought perhaps they were talking of some moving picture plot, and so the thing went out of my mind.”
“Moving picture plot! What do you mean?” demanded Agnes.
“Well, you know, every one is writing for the movies nowadays,” went on Luke, smiling. “Every fellow in my class has one or more scenarios out, hoping for an acceptance, and on the campus all you hear is continuity, close-up, flashback and the like. And more than once, in trains, I’ve overheard conversations something like this: ‘Well, we could kill off the man and kidnap the girl.’ ‘It would be easy to have the house robbed.’
“One might think some desperate crime was being planned, but all it is, really, is a talk on the plot for a moving picture, or what they hope will turn out to be one. So when I heard these men saying something about ten thousand dollars and about not letting some one know or they wouldn’t get anything, for a time I thought they might be writing a moving picture scenario.”
“Do you think so now after you’ve had a second look at them?” asked Neale.