The interest of the whole audience, up to then only mildly amused, became suddenly intense.

Trent sat forward in his seat.

Ernestine ceased to fan herself.

The man and the woman stood face to face--the light badinage which had been passing between them suddenly ended--the man, with his sin stripped bare, mercilessly exposed, the woman, his accuser, passionately eloquent, pouring out her scorn upon a mute victim.

The audience knew what the woman in the play did not know, that it was for love of her that the man had sinned, to save her from a terrible danger which had hovered very near her life.
The curtain fell, the woman leaving the room with a final taunt flung over her shoulder, the man seated at a table looking steadfastly into the fire with fixed, unseeing eyes.