The carriage drew up at the theatre and he handed her out--a little awkwardly perhaps, but without absolute clumsiness.

They found all the rest of the party already in their seats and the curtain about to go up.
They took the two end stalls, Trent on the outside.

One chair only, next to him, remained unoccupied.
"You people haven't hurried," Lady Tresham remarked, leaning forward.
"We are in time at any rate," Ernestine answered, letting her cloak fall upon the back of the stall.
The curtain was rung up and the play began.

It was a modern society drama, full of all the most up-to-date fashionable jargon and topical illusions.

Trent grew more and more bewildered at every moment.
Suddenly, towards the end of the first act, a fine dramatic situation leaped out like a tongue of fire.