"All right," agreed Ruth, and the blush grew deeper.
Alice quickly got the number of the moving picture studio. There was a private branch exchange there, and Alice knew the girl operator.
"I want to get Russ Dalwood in a hurry," Alice explained to Miss Miller, who ran the switchboard. "You try the different departments until you find him. I'll be here, holding the wire."
"All right!" returned Miss Miller, in crisp, business-like tones. Perhaps she suspected that something was wrong.
Then ensued a nervous waiting. Alice opened the door of the booth and told Ruth what she had done.
"I'll let you talk to Russ as soon as he answers," she said.
Ruth nodded understandingly. But it seemed that Russ was not to be so easily found. Through her receiver Alice could hear Miss Miller ringing the telephones in the different departments of the big studio building. One after the other was tried, from the office to the dark developing rooms, and then the printing rooms. Most of the employees had gone for the day, but such as were present evidently made answer that the young moving picture operator was not there.
"I can't locate him," said Miss Miller to Alice, finally. "They say he was here about a half-hour ago, but has gone out."
"Don't they know where he went?" asked Alice. "It's very important that we find him."
"I'll see if anyone knows," came back the answer. Then ensued more waiting, but at the end came a gleam of hope.