CHAPTER XV
JEALOUSIES
Alice hesitated, but only a moment, and, while Ruth was looking ather father, the younger girl exclaimed:
"Oh, do let us try! I don't know that we could do it, Mr. Pertell,but let us try! Won't you, Daddy?"
Mr. DeVere looked troubled. For some time past he had been watchingthe growing liking of his daughters for the moving pictures, and hewas in two minds about the matter. He had seen that this new mannerof presenting plays had a great future, not only for the public butfor the acting profession. And now, when a chance came for hisdaughters to get into it, he hardly knew what to say. He had made uphis mind that they should never go on the dramatic stage. Butthis----.
"Something has to be done," urged the manager. "I can't hold thingsback much longer."
"Wouldn't you like to try it, Ruth?" asked Alice, catching hersister's hands. "I think it will be just fine!"
"Why, I--I think I would like it--if they think I can do it," agreedRuth.
"Oh, you can do it all right," Mr. Pertell assured her. "It is verysimple. A little coaching is all you need. What do you say, Mr.DeVere? May the girls go in?"
"Why, I--er--I hardly know what to say. It is so different fromanything they have ever done. And I never expected----"
"Oh, they can do it!" interrupted the manager. "They've been aroundhere long enough to know how we do things. Come, it may be a goodopening for them."
"All right, I don't mind," said the actor. "I shall be very glad tolet them help you out, Mr. Pertell."
"Oh, I don't ask it as a favor. I'm willing to pay for their time. Iwas to give Miss Parker and Miss Dengon five dollars each for a fewminutes of their time to-day, but they have disappointed me. I nowoffer it to your daughters."
"Oh, fine!" cried Alice, clapping her hands. "Then I can get that newhat I've been wanting so much. Come on, Ruth. What do we have to do,Mr. Pertell?"
The manager quickly explained what was wanted. The two girls hadsimple parts, with Mr. Harrison as the chief character. Alice andRuth soon grasped what was required of them, and, after a littlecoaching and rehearsing, they were ready.
"Now stand over here," directed Mr. Pertell, who took personal chargethis time, "and don't pay any attention to the camera. Don't look atit, in fact. Keep your eyes on Mr. Harrison, or on some part ofscenery. Just forget everything but what you have to do."
"Shall we speak the lines aloud?" asked Ruth.
"If you like. Perhaps it will be better, for the first time, to doso," suggested Mr. Pertell. "It may help you to get the 'business'down better. A little more light here!" he called to the electrician,for in one of the scenes artificial illumination was used. "Are youall ready, Russ?" he asked the young operator.
"All ready; yes, sir!"
"Then--go!"
The little section, from what was to be a two-reel play of themovies, was under way. Though a bit nervous Ruth and Alice did verywell, and soon they were in the swing of it.
When it came time for Alice to act the part of a hoydenish character,she was exceedingly natural in it, and her laugh at the simulateddiscomfiture of Mr. Harrison was so spontaneous that even some of theothers joined in.
Ruth, too, who had a more demure part, acquitted herself well. Thecamera clicked on, Russ turning the handle steadily. He noddedreassuringly at Ruth when she had a moment's respite.
Then came a slight change of scene, and a change of costume on thepart of the girls, Mrs. Maguire finding just what was needed in thewardrobe of the studio.
Then, just as the final strip of film had been exposed, and theemergency work of Ruth and Alice had ended, in came the two tardyactresses.
"You're too late!" exclaimed Mr. Pertell. "We couldn't wait for you."
"What!" exclaimed Miss Parker. "Do you mean to tell us you went andfilmed our parts with somebody else in the cast?"
"That's what we did," replied the manager, coolly. "Maybe you'lllearn after this that four o'clock means four o'clock, and not halfpast."
"Well, what do you know about that?" gasped Miss Dengon, sinking intoa plush chair, and dabbing at her nose with a chamois skin, whichgave off puffs of powder like a miniature gun.
"An' us tryin' as hard as ever we could to get here!" went on MissParker, vigorously chewing gum. "The nerve of some people is suttinlyamazin'! Come on, Ruby, I never did care much for movies anyhow, an'how some folks can stay in 'em is suttinly a mystery to me!"
Then, with heads held high, and with meaning glances at MissPennington and Miss Dixon, who were busy in another drama, the twoyoung ladies went out, looking superciliously at Ruth and Alice.
"Business is business--in the movies the same as anywhere else,"chuckled Mr. Pertell, as he gave Ruth and Alice each a crispfive-dollar bill. "I am very much obliged to you, in the bargain," hewent on.
"So am I!" added Mr. Harrison. "I can get my train now, and it's asatisfaction to know that the scenes are completed."
"Oh, it was fun!" laughed Alice.
"I liked it, too," confessed Ruth.
"And I want to tell you that you both did most excellently," said themanager. "You have a very good grasp of what is wanted, and you putin the 'business' very naturally. I congratulate you and yourfather," and he nodded to Mr. DeVere.
"I have given them a little instruction in the fundamentals,"confessed the actor, "and of course they have been about the theatre,more or less, since they were small children."
"I suppose that accounts for it," observed Mr. Pertell. "Well, I wantto say that I am very much pleased with you, and, if you think youwould like to try it again, I can make parts for you in a drama thatI am going to film next week."
"Oh, Ruth! Let's do it!" begged Alice.
Ruth looked at her father inquiringly.
"What sort of parts are they?" he asked.
"Oh, very much the same as they undertook to-day, only longer andmore elaborate. There will be several changes of scene and costume.Do you think you'd like it?"
"Like it? I'd love it!" cried Alice, gaily, "Do say we may, Daddydear!" and she put her arms around his neck.
"I'll see," was all he would promise. "I must look over the parts,and then--well, little coaching wouldn't do you any harm, I guess,"he added with a smile.
"It would make them all the better," declared the manager.
"Oh, Ruth! I believe he's going to let us go in!" whispered Alice indelight. "Won't you like it?"
"Yes, dear! It's more exciting than I imagined. And I think you didsplendidly!"
"Not half as well as you, Ruth. You are a born actress!"
"And you're a born ingenue!"
"Oh, aren't we silly to compliment each other this way!" laughedAlice. "But, really, Ruth, I just love it; don't you?"
"Yes, dear. Oh, I wonder what sort of parts we'll get. I'd likesomething 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'man ingenue--like Miss Dixon?"
"I think you're--better!" responded Ruth, kissing her sister, andstroking her soft hair.
The work in the film studio was over for the day and the actors andactresses were getting ready to go home. From the time Ruth and Alicehad taken the emergency parts Russ had observed Miss Pennington andMiss Dixon casting sharp looks at them.
"Jealous!" mused Russ. And his diagnosis was confirmed a littlelater, when, as the two former vaudeville performers passed Ruth andAlice, Miss Pennington, with a sharp glance at the latter, murmuredloudly enough to be heard:
"Humph! It takes more than one performance in a little part to makea movie actress! Some folks think they are mighty smart, coming inover the heads of others!"
"That's what I say, too!" added Miss Dixon. "It was a shame the waythey took the parts away from Ruby and Maude!"