?"

"He is Hosmer DeVere," broke in Russ. "He was with the New Columbia
Theatre Company. They were to open in 'A Matter of Friendship,' but
Mr. DeVere's throat trouble made him give it up."

"Hosmer DeVere! Yes, I've heard of him, and I've seen him act. So he
wants an engagement here; eh?"

"Oh, it isn't exactly that!" interrupted Alice, eagerly. "He--he
doesn't know a thing about it yet."

"He doesn't know about it?" repeated the manager, wonderingly.

"No. He--I--Oh, perhaps you'd better tell him, Russ," she finished.

"I will," Russ agreed, with a smile. And, while Alice looked at some
of the other dramas being enacted before the clicking eyes of the
cameras, her companion told how it had been planned to overcome the
prejudice of Mr. DeVere and get him to try his art with the "movies."

Alice was tremendously interested, and looked on with eager eyes as
the actors and actresses enacted their roles. Some of them spoke, now
and then, as their lines required it, for it has been found that
often audiences can read the lips of the players on the screen. But
there was no need for any loud talking--in fact, no need of any at
all--whispering would have answered. Indeed some actors find that
they can do better work without saying a word--merely using gestures.
Others, who have long been identified with the legitimate drama, find
it hard to break away from the habit of years and speak their lines
aloud.

"Oh, I'm sure father would like this," thought Alice. "And he
wouldn't have to use his poor throat at all. I must tell him all
about it."

She looked at two girls--they did not seem much older than herself
and Ruth, who were playing a scene in a "society" drama. They were
both pretty, but Alice thought they were rather too flippant in
manner when out of the scene. They laughed and joked with the other
actors, and with the machine men.

But the latter were too busy focusing their cameras, and getting all
that went on in the scenes, to pay much attention to anything else.
The least slip meant the spoiling of many feet of film, and while
this in itself was not so expensive, it often meant the making of a
whole scene over again at a great cost.

"Well," Mr. Pertell said at length, "I am greatly interested in Mr.
DeVere. I know him to be a good actor, and I greatly regret his
affliction. I think I can use him in some of these plays. Can he ride
a horse--does he know anything about cowboy life, or miners?" he
asked Al