"
Dozens of alarmed ladies and gentlemen started up from their chairs.
Mat pushed through them unceremoniously; and was indebted to his want
of politeness for being in time to save the picture. With a grating
crack, and an accompanying descent of a perfect slab of plaster, the
loose clamp came clean out of the wall, just as Mat seized the
unsupported end and side of the frame in his sturdy hands, and so
prevented the picture from taking the fatal swing downwards, which
would have infallibly torn it from the remaining fastening, and
precipitated it on the chairs beneath.
A prodigious confusion and clamoring of tongues ensued; Mr. Blyth being
louder, wilder, and more utterly useless in the present emergency than
any of his neighbors. Mat, cool as ever, kept his hold of the picture;
and, taking no notice of the confused advice and cumbersome help
offered to him, called to Zack to fetch a ladder, or, failing that, to
"get a hoist" on some chairs, and cut the rope from the clamp that
remained firm. Wooden steps, as young Thorpe knew, were usually kept in
the painting-room. Where had they been removed to now? Mr. Blyth's
memory was lost altogether in his excitement. Zack made a speculative
dash at the flowing draperies which concealed the lumber in one corner,
and dragged out the steps in triumph.
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