"That Clodman is a villain!" muttered Horatio. "Ask Miss Kellerton; she knows him. But, villainy aside, what a stupendous joke it is to see Pendlam here!"
Horatio arose, flushed and excited.
"Where are you going?" I demanded.
"I'll tell you soon. Let me pass."
He left the theatre. I did not see him again until the play was over. He made his way to the orchestra box where I sat, in time to applaud Miss Kellerton's final appearance before the curtain. Then he grasped my arm.
"Come with me; they are going!"
He indicated Pendlam's party. We passed up the aisle, reached the hall, and waited for them at the foot of the stairs. Presently they appeared. Clodman was praising the performance; Susan expressed her delight; Pendlam said something about miscellaneous magnetisms. They had reached the foot of the stairs, when Horatio sprang upon them like a brigand, and seized John Henry's collar.
"Ha! Horatio!" gasped Pendlam, a good deal startled.
"Too late to escape!" And Horatio drew a tract upon him, like a revolver.
"Here is something, sir, which I think will suit your case," levelling it at
Pendlam's throat.
"Ha!" stammered Pendlam, reading the title, "'The Theatre a Stronghold of
Vice; a Sermon, by—'"