first; in that case, there's a brother who
will come and claim them, it seems. They're a fortune, the two Bambinis,
to whomever secures them."

"One dress-coat more on the stage," said Harrasford. "And next?"

"Topsy Turvy Tom."

"Oh, yes, I know!" said Harrasford, laughing. "The fellow who used to wear
leaden armlets to harden his muscles and smash Clifton's jaw."

"That's the one," said Jimmy, laughing in his turn. "A threat of
Clifton's, who said that he would 'make him dance the hornpipe on his
hands, damn it!' suggested the idea of a turn to him, so they say. He set
to work with superhuman energy--and now he is a bill-topper...."

"Well done!" cried Harrasford, banging his fist on the table. "There's no
country but old England can turn out bulldogs like that, lads who jump
from the gutter to the top of the bill! That's what I call a man! And
what's his turn like?"

"A scene of his own: the front of a palace. A pink marble figure, naked
down to the waist, supports a huge cornice. A thunder of big drums, a
flash of lime-light and the palace splits from top to bottom. The figure
staggers, falls on its hands and gives a stupendous acrobatic performance:
somersaults on the hands; waltzing; treading the ball: the 'hornpipe, damn
it!' And then Tom stands on his feet, all in shadow. A powerful ray of
light is thrown upon him, and you see the muscles of the abdomen slowly
moving, the pectoral muscles quivering, the deltoids leaping and starting,
the biceps swelling; and, when he turns round, the rhomboids hollowing
out, the muscles of the back rolling: the triumph of the human machine ...
and of Tom."

"And of will," said Harrasford. "How much?"

"So much."

"It's worth it. And next?"

"Roofers, high-kickers: the Merry Wives. We begin with dancing and end
with dancing. The puppets make their bow to the public before being put
away in their boxes ... the curtain falls ... and good night!"

"And then you come!"

"Then I come," said Jimmy. "Or she."

"Your invention," said Harrasford seriously, "is not a music-hall
entertainment. It is, undoubtedly, the greatest of all scientific toys, a
marvel of modern ingenuity. Do you really want a pair of tights on the top
of that? And, first of all, where will you find the woman who will dare?"

"That's the question, obviously," admitted Jimmy.

Not that Jimmy must have been in love with Lily, to think of her! It had
first just passed through his head, no more. But, on