"Yonder! by the pillar!" I now thought (his head being turned) that perchance he beheld a ghost. "Don't you see?--Pendlam!" It was true;--there sat the reformer, out-cheering Horatio himself! By his side was Susan, looking brighter and happier than I had seen her for months. By _her_ side sat-- "That rascal Clodman!" hissed Horatio, through his teeth. Miss Kellerton came before the curtain. A vast tumult of applause burst forth and died away. Pendlam cheered after all the rest had ceased. Then he and Clodman conferred,--the face of the latter so near Susan's, as he leaned before her, that Horatio swore he kissed her. Both Pendlam and Susan were beaming with smiles. "This recreation will do them good," I whispered. "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--'" "By the Reverend John Henry Pendlam," roared out Horatio. "Pendlam, the distinguished temperance-preacher!" A lurid smile played over the grim features of the Practical Organizer. "Pendlam has outgrown his former opinions," he said, with a look of hate at Horatio. "Not precisely," said Pendlam. "I have simply enlarged them, or rather added to them. I preach temperance the same; but every man must be his own master. The vices of the theatre appear just as hideous to me as ever; but the theatre itself may be redeemed, and made an instrument of salvation. As the patronage of bad people rendered it what it has been, so the patronage of the good is required to make it what it should be. The divine magnetism of a few spiritual persons in the audience must necessarily affect, not only the remainder of the audience, but also the actors. In our new Association--" "Come!" growled the Practical Organizer, turning away, with Susan leaning confidingly on his arm; "shall we go?"