the camera; that will have
to be done over. There's no life in it!"

And so it went on, in the glaring light that filtered in through the
roof, composed wholly of skylights, while a battery of arc lamps, in
addition, on some of the scenes, poured out their hissing glare to
make the taking of the negatives more certain.

Alice was enthralled by it all. She stood close to Russ's side,
clasping his arm. Many of the men engaged in taking the pictures knew
the young operator, and nodded to him in friendly fashion, as they
hurried about. Some of the actors and actresses, too, bowed to the
young fellow and smiled. He seemed a general favorite.

"Isn't it wonderful?" whispered Alice. "I had no idea the making of a
moving picture was anything like this!"

"I thought you'd change your mind," replied Russ, with a laugh. "But
you haven't seen half of it yet. Here comes Mr. Pertell now. I'll
speak to him about your father."

CHAPTER VIII

"PAY YOUR RENT, OR----"

Alice liked the appearance of Mr. Pertell, manager of the Comet Film
Company, from her first glimpse of him. He seemed so sturdy, kind and
wholesome. He was in his shirt sleeves, and his clothing was in
almost as much disorder as his ruffled hair. But there was a kindly
gleam in his snapping eyes, and a firm look about his mouth that
showed his character.

"Oh, Mr. Pertell, can you spare a moment?" Russ called to him.

"Oh, hello, Russ; is that you?" was the cordial greeting. "How is the
patent? I could use it if I had it now. Spare a minute? Yes, several
of 'em. They've spoiled that one act and it's got to be done over. I
don't see why they can't do as they're told instead of injecting a
lot of new business into the thing! I've got to sit still and do
nothing now for ten minutes while they fix that scene up over again.
Go ahead, Russ--what can I do for you?"

He sat down on an overturned box, and motioned for Russ and Alice to
occupy adjoining ones. Clearly there was not much ceremony about this
manager. He was like others Alice had observed behind the scenes in
real theatres, except that he did not appear so irascible.

"This is Miss Alice DeVere," began Russ, "and she has come to you
about her father. He has lost his voice, and she and I think he might
fit in some of your productions, where you don't need any talking."

"Yes, sometimes the less talking in the movies the better," agreed
Mr. Pertell. "But you do need acting. Can your father act, Miss