They talked it all over, and Alice went more into detail as to what she had seen at the moving picture theatre. Mr. DeVere grew more and more interested.
"It is very kind of Russ and Mr. Pertell to think of me," he said. "I will go and see this manager to-morrow."
The interview must have been a very satisfactory one, for Mr. DeVere returned from it with a smiling face--something he had not worn often since the failure of his voice.
"Well, Daddy?" queried Alice, as she entered the dining room, where she and Ruth were trying to make the most of a scanty supply of food. "How was it?"
For answer he pulled out a roll of bills--not a large one, but of a size to which the girls had not been accustomed of late.
"See, it is real money!" he cried, and he struck an attitude of one of the characters in which he had successfully starred. He was the old Hosmer DeVere once more.
"Where did you get it?" asked Ruth, with a little laugh. She foresaw that some of her housekeeping problems bade fair to be solved.
"It is an advance on my salary as a moving picture actor," he replied, hoarsely, but still with that same gay air. "See, I have put my other life behind me. Henceforth--or at least until my voice promises to behave," he went on, "I shall live, move and have my being on the screen. I have signed a contract with Mr. Pertell--a very fair contract, too, much more so than some I have signed with managers of legitimate theaters. This is part of my first week's salary. I have taken his money--there is no going back now. I have burned my bridges."
"And--are you sorry?" asked Alice, softly.
"No, little girl--no! I'm glad!" And truly he seemed so.
"Tell us about it," suggested Ruth, and he did--in detail.
"Then it wasn't so bad as you expected; was it, Daddy?" asked Alice.
"No, I found many of the company to be very fine characters, and some with exceptional ability. Mr. Wellington Bunn, by the way, is a man after my own heart."
"Oh, yes. He seemed very anxious to play Shakespeare," remarked Alice, with a smile. "I heard Mr. Pertell caution him about not letting Hamlet get into the parlor scene they were presenting," and she laughed at the recollection.
"Of course it was rather new and strange to me," went on Mr. DeVere, "but I dare say I shall get accustomed to it. There were some of the young ladies, though, for whom I felt no liking--Miss Pearl Pennington, who plays light leads, and her friend, Miss Laura Dixon, the ingenue."