Picture Show (Nov 1919-Apr 1920)

8 The Picture Show, February 28</i, 1920. DESTINY (.Continued from page 6.) Beriic Fisher moistened his lips. Ho had spoken up to now with perfect ease and confidence, but now his hands grasped the rails before him as though he weeded support. " I told her that her husband was worried — that he was in trouble, and she said to me: ' What do you mean?' I said, 'Ask him ; he will tell you.' And I went to go out of the room, but Mrs. Meadows called mc back. She said as I had said so much I had better explain." "Mrs. Meadows called you back?" Bertie Fishes hesitated. " I am not certain. Perhaps it was Mr. Meadows," lie said. " Anyway, one of them did." " Did you tell Mrs. Meadows her husband had falsified the accounts?" " I did, and she turned on me like a tigress and began to rave." " Did she accuse you of assisting him to spend the money ?" The witness hesitated. "She may have done. I do not rem. in ber," ho said. " She was very angry, and the said so many things." The evidence went on. Bertie Fisher gave his account of what had happened the next day, and all the subsequent time until the finding of the body. As he proceeded he became quite calm again, and gave his evidence in a thoroughly self-possessed manner. He did not alter his demeanour either when Dick Forlescuo rose and began the crossexamination. " You are an accountant at Messrs. Thorp & Co.?" " I am." "Mr. Meadows, the murdered man, was in a position somewhat above you?" "Yes." When did you first notice the deficit in the books?" '■On the Christmas Eve, 1916." " That was the first time you had noticed it?" "Yes." " There were some five or six false entries dating through the past year?" "Yes." " As you are the accountant, would you not have delected it if your books had been tampered with before the end of the year?" "1 should have done so; but they had been altered." "Are you quite certain of that?" " Of course I am." " You say your books had been tampered with. Is this not your handwriting?" Bick passed a piece of paper to the witness. Fisher took it, and his hand was shaking. "That is your handwriting, I believe?" "It is." "And you still persist in saying that the books had been tampered with?" ") do: a:iJ 1 do not see^ what this has to do with the case !" said Fisher sharply. Dick Forlescue did not deign to answer, but he turned to the judge. " I should like you to examine the entries in the books, my lord," he said. " I hope I ♦.•:ui prove that they have not been tampered with. " The amounts were placed down wrongly in the first place." The cross-examination went on, but Bertie Fisher was slowly losing his calmness. When it came to the evening of the twenty-fourth, he began to hesitate. " You say that when you entered Glan-yBOOr neither of you look off your coats. Did jou botl) intend going out again?" " V intended to go home eventually." " But surely it is not usual to enter a lady's presence with your hat and coat on?" " f never thought of it," said Bertie tujkily. '• Did Mrs. Meadows come into the hall t» meet you ?" .Again Bertie hesitated a moment. " No," he said. " I explained before. She ■was hitting by the fire in the room." "Ah, yes! And you both went into the rwuii to her." " Yes." "Are you quite sure that she was there? Are you sure that you and Meadows were not atone in the room?" " We were not." "And it was just ten o'clock?" " I don't know what the time was. It might have been later." "You think it might have been later? How do you account, then, for Miss Lena Harvey seeing you and Mr. Meadows entering Glan-y-mor at exactly ten o'clock?" " I suppose it must have been about that time," said Fisher sulkily. " You went into the sitting-room together with your hats and coats on, and Mis. Meadows got up from the side of. the fireplace and began abusing you both?" " Yes, she did." " You are quite certain on that point?" " Of course I am." Just at that moment a police officer in plain clothes made his way unobtrusively towards the counsel for the defence. He placed something in the young (nan's hand. Dick Fortescue glanced at it swiftly, then he turned to the judge. " My lord and gentlemen of the jury," be said. " With your lordship's permission I propose to now open the case for the defence." Fisher was asked to step down from the witness-box, but when he attempted to leave the court, a plain clothes policeman prevented him very politely. " You will be wanted again, sir," he said i espect fully. Dicky's voice was linging through the court. " Before, however, I proceed to answer the case of the Crown, I wish to refer to the statement made by the counsel .for the prosecution, that Mr. and Mis. Meadows lived together during the brief years of their married life in complete harmony except for the fact of a third person — the friend of the husband. " My learned friend also stated to you that the case of the Crown against the prisoner was this: On the Christmas Eve of 1916, the murdered man arrived home at ten o'clock with that same friend, and found the wife waiting in for them. " My lord and gentlemen of the jury, I have evidence to prove the prisoner's story, which is that she was not in the house when the two men arrived. " She had waited in all the evening, hoping against hope that her husband would keep his promise to her and come home in time to -take her out to the shops. " Their baby — their only boy — was to have his first Santa Claus, and her fond, mother's heart had pictured the pleasure of going to the shop with the father of her child and choosing with him a suitable present. " THE Girl With lire Million Dollar Face " I is the proud title they give Gladys Lesbe. She is a little girl with a wonderful smile and camera individuality. This last quality is a most important one, and is the reason for much of her success in pictures. Some years ago Gladys was a " weary little extra girl," now her admirers can be reckoned in hundred thousands. It all reads very much like luck, but "Gladys will assure you that luck had nothing to do with her advancement. She got where she is to-day by sheer hard work. For a year or more she persisted in her attempt to secure a big part in a film. It's not much fun waiting about the studio^ to gain a chance to play an extra's part in a big scene, and then receive about fifteen shillings at the end of the day. So Gladys Leslie made up her mind to reach the top of the tree, and by persistency she won. Her determination to achieve success was even more remarkable because she was not compelled by circumstances to earn a living. Watchful Waiting. " | ¥ AD I been, f could never have afforded Jf~J so much lime in watchful wailing," she remarks. But it was time shrewdly invested. Albeit " But the hours went by, and he didn't come. She allowed the maid to go to bed with the child, so that her baby should not be left alone, and then she sat and waited. " At half-past nine she realised that if she did not go alone her child would not have the presents in the morning she had so fondly pictured seeing him surrounded with, and, slipping on a cloak, she went out. , " Arriving in the High Street, which is some fifteen minutes sharp walking, she found, to her dismay, that nearly all the shops were closed. " The light of a butcher's shop attracted her. They were just closing,, and then, as she stared hopelessly around her, she saw a little, dingy shop which she had never troubled to notice before, next door to the butcher's. " It was a sweelstuff shop, but they also sold toys. " Eagerly she entered. The old man behind the counter showed her a toy — a woollen animal — quite a superior article for the class of shop. " The prisoner opened her purse, and found, to her dismay and disgust, that she had not sufficient change. She had been depending on her husband coming home in time to come with her. " My lord and gentlemen of the jury, 1 shall not apologise to you for going into the details of this matter, because, unfortunately for the prisoner, the old man who served her with the toy on that evening, died a few days afterwards." There was a movement all over the court, and many people smiled knowingly. Dick's next words, however, regained their attention. "My lord and gentlemen of the jury," lie went on very earnestly, " Providence is all kind and wonderful in her ways. The death of the one man who could prove the prisoner's alibi, fortunately for the prisoner, was rectified by the fact of the prisoner having insufficient money. " In despair that her baby after all might be cheated of his Christmas toys, the prisoner took off her ring — her diamond engagementring — and left it as security. Later, when she called for it, the old woman, the wife of the dying man, knew nothing of the story — nothing about the ring. " In the troubles and worries which overlook Mrs. Meadows, she allowed the missing ring to pass out of her memory, along with the man whom she had been foully told had deserted her " My lord and gentlemen of the jury, theshop has been searched, and "on one of the upper shelves, in an old china cup, the missing ring has been discovered." (To be Concluded.) E. Smith, the famous star-maker of Vilagraph, who is ever observing new talent on the screen, discerned in Miss Leslie ability and a certain personal cliarm. He then gave her a contract to play leading parts in Vitagraph pictures. To-day she graces the Vitagrapb stage in company with Alice Joyce, Corinno Griffith, Bessie Love, Harry Morey, Jean Paige, and Earle Williams. Gladys Leslie was born on March 5th, 1899, at New York, and she is fair, with brown eyes. Her height is five feet. Some of her films which you should watch out for are: "A Stitch in Time," " Fortune's Child," " Too Many Cooks," "His Own People," "Wooing of Princess Sonia," "The Little Runaway," and "Little Miss No Account." Hair-Curling Adventures. ON one occasion she went south to take some of the scenes for " Miss Dulcie of Dixie," and had all sorts of hair-curling adventures. These, however, were all wasted on her, because she had curly hair already.'' In her motor-car she crossed the river on. a craft with the water lapping against the wheels, and, later, got stuck in the mud for hours, without food or drink. GLADYS LESLIE. MillionDollar Face.