“Well, yes; in a way. Henrietta is going to share in the most wonderful fortune! You never would have suspected it. Oh! Here he is.”
Mr. Blair entered the room and Bertha nodded gaily to him. Jessie thought that the usually grave superintendent of the broadcasting station had an expression on his face different from his usual look.
But as Bertha said, there was no time then to discuss any matter. The hour set for the sending of the entertainment struck. They entered the sending room. Mr. Blair stood before a big horn and announced the nature of the charity for which the entertainment was to be given, and in which he hoped all the radio enthusiasts listening in would become interested to the amount of such contributions as they could afford.
The entertainment was divided into two halves. Madame Elva, one of the Roselawn girls’ favorite professional performers, sang a group of three songs in the first half; and soon after this it came Jessie’s turn to sing her short ballad. The girl was rather frightened when her turn came. Although she could not see the great audience that was listening in at this hour, she realized that Madame Elva herself and several other professionals were in the sending room.
Jessie had preferred to stand before the sending horn rather than sit in the comfortable chair that most of the performers occupied when they were sending. Mr. Blair came close to her and, leaning a little forward, spoke into the horn in deliberate tones:
“Stratfordtown Station: The next number on our program will be a song entitled ‘Lily of Mine,’ sung by Miss Jessie Norwood, of Roselawn. We introduce Miss Jessie Norwood.”
For the moment Jessie was badly scared. It smote upon her mind suddenly that several thousand people were listening for the first tones of her voice. Although she could not hear or see her audience, it was there—and just as critical an audience as one in a great hall.
She heard the chords struck by the pianist; it seemed to her that she could not possibly find her voice! Jessie Norwood was afflicted with a pronounced case of radio telephone fright, which is quite as serious as the ordinary stage fright. She felt that she was voiceless!
CHAPTER XXV
A RADIO SUCCESS
The chords of “Lily of Mine” seemed to ring hollowly in Jessie’s ears as she stood before the sending horn. She flashed a frightened look across the room to where her chum, Amy Drew, sat beside Bertha Blair and Nell Stanley and little Henrietta. Little Henrietta was fussing with her hair and smoothing down the front of her new dress, and her face wore such a funny look that Jessie suddenly wanted to laugh.