A swift uprising filled the house with tumult; a crowd of actors
hurried forward, and the panic-stricken audience caught glimpses of
poor Peg lying mute and pallid in Mabel's arms, while Vane wrung his
hands, and Triplet audibly demanded, "Why the devil somebody didn't
go for a doctor?"
Then a brilliant view of Mount Parnassus, with Apollo and the Nine
Muses in full blast, shut the scene from sight, and soon Mr. Sharp
appeared to ask their patience till the after-piece was ready, for
Miss Douglas was too much injured to appear again. And with an
unwonted expression of feeling, the little man alluded to "the
generous act which perhaps had changed the comedy to a tragedy and
robbed the beneficiary of her well-earned reward at their hands."
All had seen the impulsive spring toward, not from, the danger, and
this unpremeditated action won heartier applause than Christie ever
had received for her best rendering of more heroic deeds.
But she did not hear the cordial round they gave her. She had said
she would "make a hit or die;" and just then it seemed as if she had
done both, for she was deaf and blind to the admiration and the
sympathy bestowed upon her as the curtain fell on the first, last
benefit she ever was to have.
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