One look at his ashen face when he came home from the
theater was enough.
"Oh, Daddy!" cried Alice. "Couldn't you make it go?"
He answered with a shake of the head. The strain of the rehearsal had
pained him.
"Did--did they put in someone else?" asked Ruth.
"Yes, I'm out of it for good--at least for this engagement."
"The mean things!" burst out Alice "I think that Mr. Cross is rightly
named. I wish I could tell him so, too!"
"Alice!" reproved Ruth, gently.
"I don't care!" cried the younger girl, her brown eyes sparkling.
"The idea of not waiting a few days with their show until papa was
better; and he the leading man, too."
"They couldn't wait, Alice, my dear," explained Mr. DeVere. "Cross
did all he could for me, and allowed me two days. But it is out of
the question. Dr. Rathby was right. I need a long rest--and I guess
I'll have to take it whether I want to or not."
Then, seeing the anxious looks on the faces of his daughters, he went
on, in more cheerful, though in no less husky tones:
"Now don't worry, girls. There'll be some way out of this.
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