"Come away," whispered Frank, drawing Lillian Bird from the room and gently closing the door. "Leave them together a little while."
* * * * * * * *
In the morning Cassie was somewhat better, and old Dan was missing. They searched for the old actor, but did not find him. It was necessary to tell Cassie little falsehoods to keep her from worrying about her father.
The company was stranded at last. Sargent and Cates were gone, and Cassie was ill in bed. They were out of money and could not go on.
Some of the good people of the town heard of their plight, and several ladies visited the sick girl. There was that about her which won their sympathy, and they talked of starting a subscription paper. Frank objected to that.
"It is not charity we need so much as a fair chance to earn some money," he said. "If you will lend us your aid and support, I rather fancy we might get up a benefit performance that would net us something."
The idea seemed all right. It was talked over and plans for such a performance were hurriedly made. Frank got the members of the company together and found out just what they could do, so that a program could be made out.
A quartet was formed, consisting of Merriwell, Dunton, Havener and Holt. Lillian Bird was advertised to "render" some of the popular songs of the day. Hans Dunnerwurst was put down as the great whistling soloist, while Ephraim Gallup was advertised as a trombone soloist. He borrowed an instrument in town. There were fourteen numbers on the program.
Then, to make it all the more effective, a local singer of considerable renown and great popularity volunteered to appear.