"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 circumstances 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?"