on at last! Pa was about to realize his dream. He
had signed, at last, for the Castle, in London! It was all right, it was
all right! Prospects fine! And Harrasford was on board; it seemed a sign
of good luck! He was traveling with his architect. Harrasford, the great
English manager--Pa knew them all by name--Harrasford, the man for whom a
whole nation of "artistes" toiled and moiled nightly. Pa had caught a
glimpse of him.... He would have liked to introduce his Lily to him; no
matter, he would know her one day, when she was starring in his halls! And
on the Bill and Boom Tour! And elsewhere! She would soon be famous.

Ma, who remained lying in her bunk sucking lemons, would have liked to
have her Lily by her, within call, to keep her mother company, that great
big girl spoiled by her Pa, even when she was not performing, as in New
York; ... a new cloak and boots and gewgaws ... a couple of fools
together, that's what Ma called them! And she needed watching, that
tomboy, who would break her leg one of these days, tumbling up and down
the companion-way. But Lily preferred to enjoy herself and expended on
running about the energies which she no longer had to devote to her
practising. Her accumulated weariness disappeared under the influence of
the sleep and the good meals, which she had not the boredom of having to
get ready, as in Fourteenth Street, where Lily, big girl that she was, had
to help her Ma.

She flitted all over the deck, munching candies, showed everybody her new
boots and her red cloak, held her head high, was very proud of being
looked at. Lily dreamed of the Three Graces; of the boy-violinist; of
Trampy. She made conquest upon conquest, down to the electrician of the
ship, quite a young lad, who looked as cold as ice.

She sometimes stopped at his door, watched him handling levers, pressing
buttons. It was like the switchboard of a theater. She pointed to this and
to that. The lad smiled, told the New Zealander on Wheels all about his
little world....

As for Lily, she was going to star in London, where her Pa would cover her
with diamonds! And she went on to tell him stories, like a little
school-girl who has read a book or two: India, two eyes glittering in the
dark, gee! And elephants she had known, little birds which she had kept in
a cage in Natal, and kangaroos. The lion, who stands up on his hind legs
when he's angry; and the tiger, who lies down flat. And parrots. And
starry nights in Africa