xed upon the horizon. She was
married! She had dared! She would be, at last, the little lady she had
always been by instinct! And Lily went on building her castles in Spain
until, after the smooth crossing, arriving at the Hook of Holland, she
would not have been surprised to find her own motor-car and servants
waiting for her on the quay. But no, she had to carry her bag herself,
under the fine drizzle, upon the slippery pavement, to the train ... and
third-class to Rotterdam. It was all very well for Trampy to adopt a
triumphant air, but Lily was greatly vexed at the idea of going with her
husband to a little hotel frequented by artistes, bill-toppers though they
were. She would have liked something different.

Trampy observed that, with her Pa....

"With Pa," said Lily, "it was not the same thing ... and I'm not with Pa
now."

Trampy showed himself accommodating. That evening, Lily had the proud
satisfaction of walking into a smart hotel, with waiters in the hall, as
at the Horse Shoe. She carried her head high, conscious of being looked
at. She would have liked always to shine like that--to sit down to meals
amid the rustling of silk dresses ... but she felt uneasy in her modest
attire. Trampy would be only too pleased to give her a new outfit, later
on, yes; but as he explained to Lily, he had had so many expenses
recently, wouldn't it be better to take rooms somewhere, in a sort of
place like Lisle Street, or St. Pauli, at Hamburg? Lily yielded to these
arguments, she had to; but it was a bitter grief for her to leave that
fine hotel, where everybody saw her as a lady ... perhaps because of her
big hat, on which a bird, flat-spread, opened wide its wings and held in
its beak a diamond the size of an egg.

And, thenceforth, the mean life returned: Lily relapsed among the potatoes
and the wash-hand-basin salads. There were occasional revolts, tart words,
sudden disputes, which, at times, wrinkled her forehead with anger....

Nevertheless, she had her good moments: she enjoyed the sensation of being
a lady who does no work, of wearing gloves and a big hat and of looking at
the time on her fine gold watch while her husband is on the stage. It
seemed pleasant to her no longer to appear before the audience doing her
performing-dog tricks, with Pa scrutinizing her from the wings. It was her
turn now to make one of the small nation: pas, mas, profs, bosses,
brothers, sisters, sons, daughters, all watching their bread-