But the actors were in the wing, they surrounded him; the
curtain was down and they were coming off from before it. They had
been called, and HE was called--they all greeted him with "Go on--go
on!" He was terrified--he couldn't go on--he didn't believe in the
applause, which seemed to him only audible enough to sound half-
hearted.
"Has it gone?--HAS it gone?" he gasped to the people round him; and
he heard them say "Rather--rather!" perfunctorily, mendaciously too,
as it struck him, and even with mocking laughter, the laughter of
defeat and despair. Suddenly, though all this must have taken but a
moment, Loder burst upon him from somewhere with a "For God's sake
don't keep them, or they'll STOP!" "But I can't go on for THAT!"
Wayworth cried, in anguish; the sound seemed to him already to have
ceased. Loder had hold of him and was shoving him; he resisted and
looked round frantically for Violet Grey, who perhaps would tell him
the truth. There was by this time a crowd in the wing, all with
strange grimacing painted faces, but Violet was not among them and
her very absence frightened him.
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