Suddenly her iron grip seemed to relax; she made one or two ineffectual
efforts to retain it and the brute dropped to the ground. She looked at
it for a second disconcerted as if she had lost her nerve, and then,
in a horrible flash, the beast sprang at her face. She uttered piercing
screams. The blood spurted from the ghastly claws. Quick as lightning
Quast leapt forward and dragged it off. Lola clapped both hands to her
eyes, and reeled and tottered to the wings, where I saw a man's two arms
receive her. The last thing I saw was Quast kneeling on the beast on the
floor mastering him by some professional clutch. Then there rang out a
sharp whistle and the curtain went down with a run.
I rose, sick with horror, barely conscious of the gasping excitement
that prevailed around me, and blindly groped my path through the crowded
rows of folk towards the door. I had only proceeded half-way when a
sudden silence made me turn, and I saw a man addressing the audience
from the stage. Apparently it was the manager.
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