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There was an instant of horrified inaction, and in that instant a tongue of flame shot like a fiery serpent through the closed curtains behind the dancer. In a moment the cry was caught up and repeated in a dozen directions, and even as it went from mouth to mouth the safety-curtain began to descend.
The safety-curtain came down with a thud, shutting off the horrors behind, and a loud voice yelled through the building assuring the seething crowd of safety. But panic had set in. The heat was terrific. People fought and struggled to reach the exits. The dancer turned in the man's arms and raised a deathly face, gripping his shoulders with clinging, convulsive fingers.
And then you found life was too strong for you. You came back and gave yourself to me. Have you ever regretted it, my darling? Tell me that!" "Never!" she sobbed. "Never! Your love your love has been the safety-curtain always between me and harm." And then very suddenly she lifted her face, her streaming eyes, and met his look. "But there's one thing, darling," she said, "which you must know.
He was standing with his back to the safety-curtain glowering at a blue canvas, supposed to represent one of those picturesque summer skies which you get at the best places on Long Island. Jill, coming down stage from the staircase that led to the dressing-room, interrupted his line of vision.
The man hesitated, holding her fast in his arms, seeing only the quivering, childish mouth and beseeching eyes. "You don't, do you?" she said. "I don't myself, Billikins. I think He's just a myth. Or anyhow if He's there at all He doesn't bother about the people who were born on the wrong side of the safety-curtain. There, darling! Kiss me once more I love your kisses I love them! And now go!
She sank down on the floor at his feet, huddled together in a woeful heap, just as she had been on that first night when the safety-curtain had dropped behind her. "You'll never forgive me!" she sobbed. "But I knew I knew I always knew!" "Knew what, child?" He was stooping over her. His hand, trembling still with weakness, was on her head.
He turned, snatched up his great-coat, and wrapped it about the slight, boyish figure. The great dark eyes that shone out of the small white face thanked him for the action. The clinging hands slipped from his shoulders and clasped his arm. Together they faced the fearful heat that raged behind the safety-curtain. They reached the small door, gasping. It was almost hidden by green drapery.
She had left all that was serious in that other life that had ended with the fall of the safety-curtain on a certain night in England many æons ago. Her personality now was light as gossamer, irresponsible as thistledown. The deeper things of life passed her by. She seemed wholly unaware of them.
I couldn't leave you to die. That's all that's all! I'm going now. And I shan't come back. I'm not your wife. You're quite, quite free. And I'll never bring shame on you again." Her straining hands tightened. She kissed, the feet she clasped. "I'm a wicked, wicked woman," she said. "I was born on the wrong side of the safety-curtain. That's no excuse; only to make you understand."
Puck was sobbing a little and smiling at the same time. "Your love is the safety-curtain, Billikins darling," she whispered, softly. "And I'm going to thank God for it every day of my life." "My darling!" he said. "My wife!" Her eyes shone up to his through tears. "Oh, do you realize," she said," that we have risen from the dead?" The Experiment "I really don't know why I accepted him.
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