uldn't get off as early as I meant to. Come on now--we won't lose any
more time," and slipping her arm under Nancy's, she swept her,
breathless and beaming, towards the brilliantly-lighted show-place.

"Two," she slapped a dime down before the ticket-taker, quite ignoring
Eva, who silently laid a nickel beside the dime.

The place was one of the best of its kind, well ventilated and spaced
and, though the lights were turned down, it was by no means dark within.
Lena guided the old woman into a seat and sat down beside her, and Eva,
after a quick searching glance that revealed none of her acquaintances
present, took the next seat.

For the hour that followed Nancy Rextrew was in Fairyland. With
breathless interest, her eyes glued to the pictures, her mouth half
open, she followed the quick-moving figures through scenes pathetic or
ludicrous with an absorbed attention that would not miss the smallest
detail. When that popular idol--the Imp--was performing her antics, the
old woman's quick cackling laugh made Eva drop her head that her big hat
might hide her face. When the "Drunkard's Family" were passing through
their harrowing experiences, tears rolled unheeded down old Nancy's
wrinkled cheeks as she sat with her knobby fingers tight clasped.

When, at last, Lena whispered in her ear, "I guess we'll go now," Nancy
exclaimed,

"Oh! Is it over? I thought it had just begun. But it was
beautiful--beautiful! I'll never----"

A loud sharp explosion cut through her sentence and instantly the whole
place was in an uproar. Suffocating fumes filled the room with smoke as
the lights went out. Then somebody screamed, "Fire! _Fire_!" and
pandemonium reigned. Women shrieked, children wailed, and men and boys
fought savagely to get to the doors. Lena was swept on by the first mad
rush of the crowd, crazy with fear, but catching at a seat, she tried to
slip into it and climb back to Nancy and Eva. Before she could reach
them, she saw Eva thrown down in the aisle by a big woman frantic with
terror, who tried to walk over her prostrate body, but a pair of bony
hands grabbed the woman's hair and yanked her back, holding her, it
seemed, by sheer force of will, for the few precious seconds that gave
Lena a chance to pull Eva up and out of the aisle.

"You fools!" The old woman's voice, shrill and cracked, but steady and
unafraid, cut through the babel of shrieks and cries, "You fools, there
ain't no fire! If you'll stop yellin' an' pu