Minutes passed, and the tumult gave no sign of abatement. If the great hoarse volume of shouting seemed for a second to be dying down, it was quickly noticed, and huge waves of swelling sound arose again, until it appeared as if the very roof would be rent by the strain. Suddenly a voice started the national air, and in a moment the leader of the orchestra seized the occasion, the band took it up, and the whole audience, led by the singers on the stage, sang it with such a chorus as had never before been heard in Madrid. Then came an unrehearsed and most dramatic scene. There was a movement on the stage as the singing drew to a close, and the Archbishop of Madrid came to the front and stood with uplifted hand for silence. An intense hush, seeming almost weird after the raging tumult, fell upon the place, and then his powerful voice was heard in half a dozen impressive sentences of thanksgiving for the King’s deliverance; and as he finished amid sounds of sobbing from men and women, for all were now so wrought upon that emotion reigned supreme alike over strong men and weak women, a mighty Amen came from every corner of the house, with another moment of weird silence as the great priest stood with bowed head and hand-covered eyes in prayer. Before the audience could gather strength for fresh shouting he stepped back, the curtain came down on the stage, the band struck up some of the music of the night’s opera, and the great scene—a scene to be remembered to one’s dying day—was over; and the panting, exhausted, half-hysterical audience struggled back into some semblance of order. I had been as much carried away as anyone—the fever of contagion was in truth resistless—and I had forgotten everything in the excitement, even the time I was losing, so vital for the rescue of Sarita; and my companions in the box were equally oblivious. But at the close of it they turned to me. "Why, they said it was Lascelles," said Mercy, who like Mrs. Curwen was sitting back exhausted with the excitement, for they had been shouting and waving as frantically as the rest. "I used the name to get in," I replied, feebly: realising how incongruous it would be to attempt to break my news to Mercy in the midst of such a scene. "I didn’t expect to get here, but as I chanced to be near the place, I came in to say I hope to be at supper with you at the Hotel de l’Opera." "You’re always coming to say you can’t come, but will come some other time," exclaimed Mrs. Curwen. "I am sorry if I seem neglectful," was my apology, "You look very serious, at any rate, and as if this mysterious business was a very doleful one." "When I am able to explain it all to you, you will say I am not serious without cause." She shrugged her shoulders. "I have no right to any explanation, but Mercy has," she answered. "Don’t mind me, Nand," said Mercy quickly. "I know it must be serious."