er dinner, when the
apprentices had gone out. "Stay with us."

"It's your duty," said Ma.

"If you stay," continued Pa, "I'll make you a present of a brand-new
banjo!"

"Thank you, no more banjo for me," said Lily, laughing. "I've had my
share."

"All right, no more banjo," agreed Pa, "provided you stay with us: that's
all I ask. I shall be afraid of nobody then; I'll show them what an
artiste is!"

And, warming to his subject, Pa built up his plans: the great English
tours; and Eastern and Western America, Australia, South Africa:

"Eh, Lily? Wouldn't you like to see it all again? Or else, for once, I'll
get up a troupe and take it round the world myself, with you in it!"

"But, Pa," said Lily, very coldly, "I have business arrangements of my
own, more engagements than I want."

"It's a business arrangement I'm proposing to you," said Pa.

"And shall I come on in tights?"

"In tights, if you like."

"And no other star but me!" continued Lily, explaining her idea:
undressing on the stage, or else the statue, her own scenery ...

"Capital idea!" cried Pa.

"And then there's the money side of the question," said Lily. "I make a
lot of money now. I want to work for myself."

"And what you make with us, won't it be yours, one day?" suggested Ma.

"Stay with us," said Pa, "and Trampy will burst with spite and you'll be
much happier here, with your Pa and Ma, instead of with that
good-for-nothing!"

"Or instead of remaining alone, which is even worse," Ma insisted. "You
want us still, Lily ..."

"And you me! Let us talk business," interrupted Lily, who would have liked
a pencil and paper, to make her calculations with.

Ma, in her heart of hearts, did not think it at all nice of a daughter to
consider only her own interests; but Pa hurried up, thought Lily was quite
right ... although he was greatly embarrassed in reality and asked himself
how much he could well offer her, so as to make a profit for himself.

Fortunately, he was relieved of his predicament by Glass-Eye, who came in
with a telegram for Miss Lily.

"Give it here!" said Lily, who noticed, as she opened the envelope, that a
chair had creaked and that the palm of her left hand was itching: a sign
of money. "I'll bet it's about an engagement. I have offers from every
side; you have no idea ... Well, I never!" she said. "A telegram from
Jimmy, at the Horse Shoe! I thought he was at Whitcomb Mansions. What can
he want with me? He asks me to