The Moving Picture Girls | Page 9

What shall we
do?"
"It--it's--" but his voice trailed off into a hoarse gurgle, and signs of
distress and pain appeared on his face.
"Oh, tell us! Tell us!" begged Ruth, clasping her hands, her blue eyes
filling with tears.
"Can't you see he can't speak!" exclaimed Alice, a bit sharply. She had
a better grasp of the situation in this emergency than had her sister.
"Something has happened to him! Was it dust in your throat on the
street?" asked Alice. "Don't answer--wait, Dad! I have some lozenges.
I'll get them for you!"

She was in and out of her room on the instant, with a box of troches,
one of which she held out to her father. He had not moved since
sinking into the chair, but stared straight ahead--and the future that he
saw was not a pleasant one to contemplate.
"Take this, Father," begged Alice, slipping her arm about him, as she
sank to the floor at his feet. "This will help your throat. Don't you
remember what a terrible cold I had? These helped me a lot. Take one!"
Mr. DeVere shook his head slightly, and seemed about to refuse the
lozenge. But a glance at his daughters' worried faces evidently made
him change his mind. He slipped the tablet into his mouth, and then
straightened up in his chair. Whatever happened to him he knew he
must make a brave fight for the sake of the girls. It would not do to
show the white feather before them, even though his heart was quaking
with the terrible fear that had come upon him.
"What happened, Dad?" asked Ruth. "Can't you tell us? Oh, I am so
worried!"
He tried to smile at her, but it was a pathetic attempt. Then, with an
effort, he spoke--so hoarsely that they could barely understand him.
"It--it's my voice," he whispered, gratingly. "Some sort of affection of
my vocal chords. You'd better get a doctor. I--I must be better by
to-morrow."
"Poor Daddy!" whispered Ruth. "I'll go down stairs and telephone for
Dr. Haldon."
"No--not him--some--some other physician. We--we haven't paid Dr.
Haldon's bill," said Mr. DeVere quickly, and this time he spoke more
distinctly.
"Oh, you're better!" cried Alice in delight, clapping her hands. "I knew
my medicine would help you, Dad! It's good; isn't it?"
He nodded and smiled at her, but there was little of conviction in his

manner, had the girls but noticed it.
"I know just how it is," went on Alice, and her tone did as much as
anything to relieve the strain they were all under. "I caught cold once,
and I got hoarse so suddenly that I was afraid I was going to be terribly
ill. But it passed off in a day or two. Yours will, Dad!"
Mr. DeVere tried to act as though he believed it, but there was a
despondent look on his face.
"I'll slip over and ask Mrs. Dalwood the name of a good doctor,"
offered Alice. "It's too bad we can't pay Dr. Haldon, but we will as soon
as we can. Mrs. Dalwood may know of a good throat specialist
nearby."
"Yes, you had better go," said Mr. DeVere in a low voice. "I must be
able to go on with the rehearsals to-morrow."
Alice fairly flew across the hall, and the tragic little story was soon told.
Mrs. Dalwood, fortunately, did know of a good doctor in the vicinity.
He had attended Billy several times, and, while not exactly a throat
specialist, was to be depended upon.
"Then I'll go downstairs and telephone for him," said Alice. "Poor
daddy is so worried."
"I'll go over and see what I can do," volunteered Mrs. Dalwood. "I have
an old-fashioned cough medicine I used for the children."
She took a bottle with her as she slipped across the hall to the flat of her
neighbors. Russ went with her, anxious to do what he could.
But Mr. DeVere shook his head as the bottle of simple home remedy
was proffered.
"Thank you very much, Mrs. Dalwood," he said hoarsely. "It is very
kind of you, but I'm afraid to try it. I have had this trouble before,
and----"

"You have, Father?" cried Ruth in surprise. "You never told us about
it."
"I will--after the doctor comes," he said in a low voice.
Alice came back from using the telephone of the neighbor on the floor
below to say that Dr. Rathby would soon be over.
"And then we'll have you all right again, Daddy!" she said, and the
merry, laughing light that had disappeared came back into her eyes.
It was rather anxious waiting for the physician, but when he came his
cheery, breezy presence seemed to fill them all with hope. He took Mr.
DeVere into