North was one of the actors in the picture, but in a moment he sprang to the footlights and said, speaking with an air of authoritative entreaty—
“I beg you, ladies and gentlemen, to keep your seats, and only go out quietly. Remember that that door is the only exit. If it becomes choked nobody behind can escape. Probably whatever has occurred is only trifling. I beg you not to endanger your own safety and that of others by any sort of a rush. Let those on the back rows move first, and in five minutes the place can be cleared.”
So spoke North, and a cheer went up from several amongst the audience, and those in the front remained still, though faces were pale, and heads were anxiously turned towards the door, where the sounds from the great hall below became more and more menacing. Then a puff of smoke darkened the air and a lady shrieked, and the next moment a man’s voice from the stage exclaimed hoarsely:
“I vow the place is on fire! I’m not going to stay to be suffocated like a rabbit in its warren!”
At those words the whole hall rose in a sort of panic, but North had caught hold of the figure, which in its finery was on the verge of leaping into the space below, and in a voice hoarse with passion he cried out:
“Cyril—you coward! You sha’n’t do it! Not if I have to detain you by force. If there is a panic now it will be all your doing!”
For a moment it was touch and go. North held his breath. His voice could not be heard, but his action had been seen. Somebody had thrown back the darkening curtains and let in the bright sunshine, and Oscar instantly turned off the gas of the footlights. The opportune flood of daylight had the effect of restoring momentary confidence; and Miss Adene, who was in the third row, was earnestly entreating those about her not to crowd out before their turn. She had a calm and gentle firmness of manner that had its due effect, and though there was considerable press in the doorway, and often those who got through gave an audible shriek on reaching the vestibule leading into the hall below, still there was no absolute choking of the one exit, and North, who stood holding back the struggling Cyril, his face sternly set towards the door, gave a sigh of infinite relief as he saw that there would not be the dreaded block, which might have meant loss of many lives.
Suddenly his hold on Cyril’s torn finery relaxed, and he half pushed him from him.
“Go now, if you must! I have others to see to, but——”
Cyril waited for nothing more. He was off like an arrow from a bow, pushing and elbowing his way out, even jostling past Miss Adene, who was quietly conducting down the gangway a party of ladies who had instinctively turned to her as to a tower of strength in a terrible moment. He did not recognise her, though she knew him well enough, and a little curve of the lips showed her feelings as he pushed by.