Instantly the poor dog was in a blaze, and, terrified out of all knowledge, rushed wildly hither and thither to the terror of all, whilst his master, catching up a great heavy cloak which a lady, with great presence of mind, flung across to him, pursued the poor creature, and at last succeeded in throwing this over him, and rolling him over till the flames were extinguished. Everybody was watching the chase and the capture, and crowding round to know how much the poor dog had been hurt; and meantime a little thread of flame was running up one of the festoons against which the dog had dashed, and this in turn set fire to other festoons, till some burning paper fell upon one of the flimsy draperies of a stall, and in a moment a piercing cry went up from fifty throats— “Fire! Fire!” This was the cry which fell upon the ears of the packed assembly in the upper room, and immediately a thrill and a rustle went through the spectators. 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!”