“Is it a man—­or a woman you suspect?” persisted the district attorney.  “Three of the men had pocket knives and—­”

Kennedy led the way to the door without answering, and Mackay cut short his hopeless quizzing as Craig nodded to me to carry the bag.

XXX

THE BALLROOM SCENE

Sounds of music caught our ears as we entered the studio courtyard of Manton Pictures.  Carrying the bag with its indisputable proof of some person’s guilt, we made our way through the familiar corridor by the dressing rooms, out under the roof of the so-called large studio.  There a scene of gayety confronted us, in sharp contrast with the gloomy atmosphere of the rest of the establishment.

Kauf, however, had thoroughly demonstrated his genius as a director.  To counteract the depression caused by all the recent melodramatic and tragic happenings, he had brought in an eight-piece orchestra, establishing the men in the set itself so as to get full photographic value from their jazz antics.  Where Werner and Manton had dispensed with music, in a desperate effort at economy, Kauf had realized that money saved in that way was lost through time wasted with dispirited people.  It was a lesson learned long before by other companies.  In other studios I had seen music employed in the making of soberly dramatic scenes, solely as an aid to the actors, enabling them to get into the atmosphere of their work more quickly and naturally.

Under the lights the entire set sparkled with a tawdry garishness apt to fool those uninitiated into the secrets of photography.  On the screen, colors which now seemed dull and flat would take on a soft richness and a delicacy characteristic of the society in which Kauf’s characters were supposed to move.  Obviously fragile scenery would seem as heavy and substantial as the walls and beams of the finest old mansion.  Even the inferior materials in the gowns of most of the girls would photograph as well as the most expensive silk; in fact, by long experience, many of the extra girls had learned to counterfeit the latest fashions at a cost ridiculous by comparison.

Kennedy approached Kauf, then returned to us.

“He asks us to wait until he gets this one big scene.  It’s the climax of the picture, really, the unmasking of the ’Black Terror.’  If we interrupt now he loses the result of half a day of preparation.”

“He may lose more than that!” muttered Mackay; and I wondered just whom the district attorney suspected.

“Is everyone here?” I asked.  “All seven?”