Then came a panicky year. Many theaters were closed, and more actors
"walked the Rialto" looking for engagements than ever before. Mr.
DeVere was among them, and he even accepted a part in a vaudeville
sketch to eke out a scanty livelihood.
Good times came again, but did not last, and finally it looked to the
actor as though he were doomed to become a "hack," or to linger along
in some stock company. He was willing to do this, though, for the
sake of the girls.
A rather longer period of inactivity than usual made a decided change
in the DeVere fortunes, if one can call a struggle against poverty
"fortunes." They had to leave their pleasant apartment and take one
more humble. Some of their choice possessions, too, went to the sign
of the three golden balls; but, with all this, it was hard work to
set even their scanty table. And the bills!
Ruth wept in secret over them, being the house-keeper. And, of late,
some of the tradesmen were not as patient and kind as they had been
at first. Some even sent professional collectors, who used all their
various wiles to humiliate their debtors.
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