oty rotter,
who was jealous of Jimmy without reason: she'd give him cause for jealousy
soon, if it killed him with rage, him and all the rotten lot. And she'd do
it that very moment! At two minutes' walk from where she stood, in
Whitcomb Mansions! She was not one of those women whom you can drive to
despair with impunity: she had her vengeance ready....

* * * * *

Jimmy was alone in his room; his table was covered with books and papers.
He was still at his great plan.

Jimmy sat plunged in work, without the least thought of what was happening
near him: in fact, he did not even know that Lily was in London. His
installation of "Bridging the Abyss" at the Hippodrome had taken him the
whole day. There was a scenic effect to contrive with the manager: a
"hydrodrama" ... bridging the abyss over a torrent ... with a waterfall
behind ... and the whole thing set and framed in a pantomine, which was
ready for production, because Jimmy had been expected for a month; in
short, it would go of itself.

And under the peaceful light he resumed his compasses, or else flung
himself back in his chair, lit a cigarette, followed the smoke with his
eyes....

Poor Lily, what was she doing, over there, in Berlin, thought Jimmy. She
deserved something better than Trampy, that adorable Lily, to whom he,
Jimmy, would gladly have devoted his life ... and whom he felt as it were
swelling up inside him ... in his heart ... in his brain ... in spite of
himself! That poor Lily! To think that he could do nothing for her, that
he almost regretted having done her a service, after the short scene which
he had had the day after with Trampy, blinded with jealousy, because he,
Jimmy, had visited Lily during his absence; the reproaches which that
simple action had earned for him:

"Look here, you righter of wrongs, you who preach to others and go making
love to their wives!"

To have put himself in a position that he could be spoken to like that, in
a position to have Lily suspected! What a shame! Oh, the worries it would
cause her! Yes, he had been imprudent, perhaps: it was all his fault;
another man's wife....

[Illustration: "Oh, you mean cur!" roared Lily.]

A tap at the door. It was opened behind him, before he had time to say,
"Come in," and Lily walked up to Jimmy, who sat dumb with surprise: a
strange Lily, feverish, distraught with passion. At any other time, she
would have felt constrained, b