"And you're a born ingenue!"

"Oh, aren't we silly to compliment each other this way!" laughed Alice. "But, really, Ruth, I just love it; don't you?"

"Yes, dear. Oh, I wonder what sort of parts we'll get. I'd like something romantic."

"And I want something funny--with laughs in it," declared Alice. "Oh, say, Ruth," and her voice went to a whisper, "do you really think I'm an ingenue--like Miss Dixon?"

"I think you're--better!" responded Ruth, kissing her sister, and stroking her soft hair.

The work in the film studio was over for the day and the actors and actresses were getting ready to go home. From the time Ruth and Alice had taken the emergency parts Russ had observed Miss Pennington and Miss Dixon casting sharp looks at them.

"Jealous!" mused Russ. And his diagnosis was confirmed a little later, when, as the two former vaudeville performers pa.s.sed Ruth and Alice, Miss Pennington, with a sharp glance at the latter, murmured loudly enough to be heard:

"Humph! It takes more than one performance in a little part to make a movie actress! Some folks think they are mighty smart, coming in over the heads of others!"

"That's what I say, too!" added Miss Dixon. "It was a shame the way they took the parts away from Ruby and Maude!"

CHAPTER XVI

THE MOVING PICTURE GIRLS

For a moment Ruth and Alice looked at each other with eyes that showed the pain they felt. Ruth turned pale at hearing the unkind words, but Alice blushed a rosy red, and started to say something.

"Don't," advised Mrs. Maguire, coming up beside them, and evidently guessing her intention. "It would only make matters worse to reply to them, my dear."

"But--but----" began Alice.

"Hush!" begged Ruth. "Oh, how could they say it--as if we _wanted_ to displace those girls."

"I'm just going to tell them what I think!" exclaimed Alice, and there was a hint of real anger in her voice. But she had no chance, for Miss Pennington and Miss Dixon, as though satisfied with what they had done, swept out to the elevator.

"Don't mind them, my dears," said motherly Mrs. Maguire. "It's only professional jealousy, anyhow; and you'll see plenty of that if you stay in this business long enough."

"Then I'm not going to stay!" cried Alice. "I'm not used to having such things said of me."

Mrs. Maguire laughed genially. She was standing with Ruth and Alice, who were waiting for their father to join them. Most of the other performers had now gone.

"Oh, you'll get so you won't mind that a bit!" went on Mrs. Maguire.

"Sure, I used to eat my heart over it in my younger days, but now I only laugh. It's part of the business. It's a tribute to your acting, my dear, and you ought to take it as such. Don't mind it."

"Oh, but it was so--so uncalled--for!" murmured Ruth. "I think I must--"

"Hush! Here comes daddy!" interrupted Alice. "Don't let him know about it."

"That's wise," commented Mrs. Maguire. "Though probably he's seen enough of it in his time. But perhaps he wouldn't like to know that it bothered you. Best say nothing to him, my dears. It will wear away soon enough."

"No, we won't say anything," agreed Alice, slipping her arm through her sister's. "Papa has enough trouble as it is."

A little later, as the girls were walking along with Mr. DeVere, he asked them:

"Well, how did you like your parts in the movies?"

"Fine. It was so interesting, Dad!" exclaimed Ruth.

"I'd like to do some more!" echoed Alice, with a meaning look at her sister.

"Well, I must see what sort of parts Mr. Pertell will cast you for,"

said Mr. DeVere. "But I am glad you like the work. It may be a great deal better for all of us to be in this than if I was alone in a regular theater. We can always be together now, and certainly my voice doesn't seem to be improving very fast."

This was only too true. Several visits to the physician, and a heroic course of treatment, had resulted in only a slight improvement. The pain in the vocal chords had been lessened, but the huskiness remained, so that it would have been practically impossible for Mr.

DeVere to speak his lines in a regular theater. So the moving pictures were suited to him.

The DeVere family was now in much better circ.u.mstances than when we first made their acquaintance. They had been gradually paying the back bills, the landlord had been appeased, so that there was no danger of dispossession, and there was much happiness in the little flat.

"We could even afford a better one, if you girls would like to move,"

said Mr. DeVere one day.

"Oh, no, let's stay," suggested Ruth. "We can save a little money by remaining here, and paying less rent."

"Besides, we have such nice neighbors!" observed Alice, with a glance at the Dalwood apartments across the hall, at the same time giving Ruth a sly nudge.

"Stop it!" commanded Ruth. "What do you mean, Alice?"

"Just what I said--we have _such_ nice neighbors across the way," and she gave a little pinch to her sister's blushing cheek.

"Yes, the Dalwoods are very good friends," remarked Mr. DeVere, all unconscious of this little by-play between his daughters. "And Russ is certainly a fine young man."

"Indeed he is; isn't he, Ruth?" asked Alice tantalizingly.

"Oh, yes, I suppose so," was the blushing answer. "But how should I know--any more than you do about Paul Ardite?" and she glanced shrewdly at Alice.

"A hit, I suppose you would call that. A Roland for my Oliver, my dear!" laughed Alice, frankly. "I don't mind."

She looked toward her father, but he was so absorbed in looking over a new part he was to take, that he paid little attention to the chatter of the girls.

A few days after the first appearance of Ruth and Alice before the moving picture camera, in the small roles they had taken to bridge over an emergency, Mr. Pertell brought them their parts in a new drama. Meanwhile it had been ascertained that the films where the girls filled in had been a success. Ruth and Alice felt a little diffident about going to the studio again, especially after the scene with the jealous actresses.

But Miss Dixon and Miss Pennington appeared to have gotten over their pique, and they acted as though they had never said anything to wound or annoy Ruth and Alice. The latter, however, could not forget it, and were rather cool toward their fellow-players.

"Here are your new parts," said Mr. Pertell. "Look them over with your father as soon as you can. He is to be in the play with you."

"Oh, isn't this exciting!" cried Alice, as she took the typewritten ma.n.u.script. "Real parts at last, Ruth!"

"Yes. We will be real actresses if we keep on. I wonder what I am cast for?"