Part 8 (1/2)
”Do bring her!” urged Alice. ”We'll try to make her comfortable. And don't fear what they will do,” and she nodded toward the two other actresses, who had been in vaudeville before going into motion pictures.
So it was that, later in the evening, Miss Brown brought her trunk to the Apgar farmhouse and was installed in a room near Alice and Ruth.
”Oh, it is _so_ much nicer here!” sighed Estelle Brown, as she admitted Ruth and Alice, who knocked on her door. ”I could not have stood the other place much longer. Though every one--except that one man--was very nice to me.”
”Let us be your friends!” urged Alice.
”You are very kind,” murmured Estelle, and the more the two girls looked at her, the prettier they thought her. She had wonderful hair, a marvelous complexion, and white, even teeth that made her smile a delight.
”Have you been in this business long?” asked Ruth.
”No, not very--in fact, this is my first big play. I have done little ones, but I did not get on very well. I love the work, though.”
”Were your people in the profession?” asked Alice.
”I don't know--that is, I'm not sure. I believe some of them were, generations back. Oh, did you hear that?” and she interrupted her reply with the question.
”That” was the voice of some one in the lower hall inquiring if Miss Brown was in.
”It's that--that impertinent Maurice Whitlow!” whispered Estelle to Ruth and Alice. ”I thought I could escape him here. Oh, what shall I do?”
”I'll say you are not at home,” returned Ruth, in her best ”stage society” manner, and, sweeping down the hall, she met the maid who was coming up to tell Miss Brown there was a caller for her below.
”Tell him Miss Brown is not at home,” said Ruth.
”Very well,” and the maid smiled understandingly.
”Ah! not at home? Tell her I shall call again,” came in drawling tones up the stairway, for it was warm, and doors and windows were open.
”Little--snip!” murmured Estelle. ”I'm so glad I didn't have to see him.
He's a pest--all the while wanting to take me out and buy ice-cream sodas. He's just starting in at the movies, and he thinks he's a star already. Oh! but don't you just love the guns and horses?” she asked impulsively.
”Well, I can't say that I do,” answered Ruth. ”I like quieter plays.”
”I don't!” cried Alice. ”The more excitement the better I like it. I can do my best then.”
”So can I,” said Estelle. Then they fell to talking of the work, and of many other topics.
”Did Estelle Brown strike you as being peculiar?” asked Ruth of her sister when they were back in their rooms, getting ready for bed.
”Peculiar? What do you mean?”
”I mean she didn't seem to know whether or not her people were in the profession.”
”Yes, she did side-step that a bit.”
”Side-step, Alice?”
”Well, avoid answering, if you like that better. But my way is shorter.