"Good-bye!" called Alice, who with Paul, Miss Fillmore, and the camera operator, were going out for the exterior scenes. "I'll be home soon." "I'll take care of her," promised Paul, and, as he and Alice went out, side by side, Ruth caught a sharp glance from Miss Dixon, who was narrowly watching the two. "Well, everything seems to be going on all right now," observed Mr. Pertell. "Here's Pop with the fence. Now, Mr. Switzer, and Miss Dixon----well, what is it?" he broke off with, as he saw Wellington Bunn approaching with an irritated air. "I must refuse, sir, positively refuse, to go on with the part you have assigned to me!" exclaimed the former Shakespearean player, striking what he thought was a dignified attitude. "I cannot do it, Mr. Pertell, and I wonder that you expect it of me." "What part is it you object to?" asked the manager. "Let's see, you're in 'A Man's Home;' aren't you?" "Yes, and in one scene I am supposed to come home from the office, and get down on the floor to play with blocks with the children. I do not mind that so much, but I have to play horse, and ride the children around on my back, and then, to cap the climax, I have to turn a somersault." "Well?" asked the manager, as the actor paused. "Well, I positively refuse to do that somersault! The idea of me--Wellington Bunn--who has played in Shakespearean dramas, groveling on the floor and turning somersaults! The somersaults positively must be cut out." "But they can't very well, Mr. Pertell!" broke in one of the other actors in the same drama. "Because when Mr. Bunn goes over that way he is supposed accidentally to upset the table, and the supper things fly all over, and the children laugh and think it's a great joke. The whole scene will be spoiled if Mr. Bunn doesn't turn his somersault." "Then he'll turn it!" announced the manager, grimly. "What! But I protest, sir! I protest!" cried the tragedian. "I will not do it! The idea of me--Wellington Bunn----" "Somersault--or look for another engagement," was the terse rejoinder, and with a gesture of despair Mr. Bunn turned aside murmuring; "Oh, that I should come to this! Oh, the pity of it! The pity! I'll never do it!" But a little later, for the sake of his salary, he turned the somersault. CHAPTER XIV AN EMERGENCY "Did you enjoy yourself, Alice?" asked Ruth, a little later that afternoon, when her sister had returned from her trip to the Brooklyn Bridge, and the Grand Central Terminal, with Paul. "Indeed I did!" replied the younger girl. "It was really exciting. And Paul is so nice!" "Do you call him Paul?" "Certainly--why not." "And does he call you Alice?" "Yes. He asked me if he couldn't, and I don't see any harm. He's just like a brother would be." "Oh," remarked Ruth, with a little smile. "Tell me about it."