The book is entitled "Waifs" and deals with the underworld, a subject of which Hale, who is a New Englander with a Puritanical strain, knows by personal experience, practically nothing at all.

Hale accedes to the manager's request, but rejects Mavis for the part, as he believes her talent is exclusively of the refined comedy order.

With the aid of a dramatic critic, Mavis stages a surprise for the author and is introduced as "Chicken Casey," a typical "Rags," in a low Bowery dive.

She enacts the part so well that Hale, unaware that she is a famous actress, starts to reclaim her and informs the manager that he has found his ideal heroine and "Chicken Casey" must have the star role.

Mavis, whose masquerading had given her an insight into the nobility and chivalry of the man, way finds a to earn his forgiveness and secure a happy future for both star and author, and "Chicken Cnspv" becomes only a memory.