“You must take these pictures back to the _Chronicle_ office right away,” Carroll said firmly. “It is quite possible that your uncle and cousin have not as yet made the discovery that they are missing. If so, there is no reason why they should ever learn what you have done, Melba. I guess you can persuade the man in charge of the photo-engraving room to keep mum on the subject. Don’t you think that’ll be the best plan, Frank?” “I certainly do,” the Camera Chap agreed sadly. “Even though it means the loss of the pictures to the _Bulletin_.” He turned smilingly to the girl. “I have no doubt, Miss Gale, that without telling a downright fib you can manage to give your uncle the impression that after taking the films you were seized with remorse, which caused you to bring them back again. That surely ought to appease him.” The girl frowned. “I shall do no such thing,” she declared indignantly. “I should just like to see myself taking those pictures back to the _Chronicle_ office. They stole them from you, and I was justified in recovering them for you in the way I did.” “But you must take them back, Melba,” Carroll insisted. “And, what’s more, you must do it as quickly as possible. There isn’t a minute to be lost. Now, don’t be stubborn, little girl,” he pleaded. “We are not going to use the pictures, so nothing whatever will be gained by your refusal to take them back; and you might just as well save yourself from unpleasantness at home.” “But you are going to use them!” Melba declared firmly. “I insist upon it, Fred. If I don’t see them on the front page of to-morrow’s _Bulletin_, I shall never speak to you again. And I mean that, too.” Realizing that she did mean it, Carroll turned helplessly to the Camera Chap. The latter came promptly to the rescue. “It is quite evident that Miss Gale overestimates the importance of those snapshots,” he said craftily. “Use them on the front page? That would be very bad judgment from a journalistic standpoint, I think. The news value of the pictures doesn’t entitle them to such a prominent position.” “Certainly not,” said Carroll, catching the cue instantly. “As Mr. Hawley says, Melba, you are laboring under a wrong impression. Those pictures aren’t of any great importance. Whether we publish them or not really won’t make very much difference to the _Bulletin_. So you see, Melba, you’ll only be embarrassing us by insisting that we use them. Now that you know the real state of affairs, won’t you take them back like a good girl?” “No, I won’t!” replied Melba. She laughed merrily. “You boys must be very simple if you imagine that I am to be deceived so easily. In spite of what you say, I know that those pictures were intended to be the star feature of to-morrow’s issue.” “Not at all,” Carroll protested, felling that the circumstances warranted him in “lying like a gentleman.”