After a morning devoted to shopping, Margaret and Aunt Abbie had decided to see “The Hawk,” the latest play William Faversham had produced. A friend arranged for them to meet the famous actor-manager, who, in the face of a disastrous theatrical season, has had the courage to retain the best ideals and traditions of the stage. Mr. Faversham took from a shelf in his dressing-room a huge hawk. Its wings were outstretched as if to hold it for an instant above its prey, its head was bent forward in vicious intent, its talons curled in anticipation. Then the actor told Our Mutual Girl and her aunt a story. John Gordon, a young business man of good family, happens to observe two men and a girl who have been stopped by a tire puncture in a New York street. The cold-faced older man and his nervous, irritable associate were hardly types to attract one, but the wan-faced girl, whose eyes held a wistful gleam, appealed strongly to Gordon. A few days later Gordon ran into the girl again in the hall of an expensive apartment house. Her smile of welcome was pitifully wan, and he asked and obtained consent to walk down the street with her. Then she confided in him. After that he saw her many times, and always he learned more of her story. Mary Falconer’s father and James Passroe were gamblers, and often they made her a decoy for them. He determined to stop it if he could. So one day he boldly called upon Mary at her home. There he was discovered by her father and Passroe, and for the girl’s sake, and to put the two gamblers off the scent, he allowed himself to be drawn into a game of cards. He came again and again, until he could no longer afford to go on losing at such a pace. So, seizing upon the first evidence of crooked play, he denounced the gamblers. They put him out of the house at the point of a revolver. But, as he had expected, they soon left the apartment and entered their car, taking Mary with them. Gordon had lain in wait in a nearby hallway. Summoning a policeman and a taxi, he gave chase. He and the officer managed to overtake the car and compel the three passengers to descend. But by a clever trick, the pair disarmed the policeman, and using their own gun to make good their escape, re-entered their machine and sped away. Mary Falconer and Gordon were left standing in the street. His arms went protectingly about the girl’s shoulders and he drew her to him. That was the beginning of better things.