Yet some people must have seen; had they taken no
notice?
For some space--minutes or seconds--it seemed so.
Then a confused murmur, a shifting, restless movement, began near us in
the orchestra. A good many people down there, as well as in the boxes at
each side, had noticed me earlier. Now they began whispering to their
neighbours. Heads were turned our way; people were asking, answering,
almost pointing. I could see the knowledge of me spread from seat to seat,
from row to row, as ripples spread from a stone thrown into still water.
Opera glasses were levelled. Comment grew, swelled to a stir of surprise.
The curtain had dropped for the interval between scenes; our box became
for the moment the centre of interest, and the lights were high. Even the
orchestra was resting.
Then it was given me to see how in a great audience Panic may leap without
cause from Opportunity.
The stir grew, spread. Fascinated, I gazed down at the disturbance. I knew
that a frightened smile still curved my lips. I felt my eyes glow,
luminous and dilated. My heart almost stopped beating, gripped by triumph
and horror.
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