ike a man. She was a well-informed
person, was Lily. And a providence for her family also, to listen to her.
When any one brought news of her Pa and the New Trickers, with Daisy as a
statue on her pedestal, one of the successes of the year:
"Yes," Lily replied, in a patronizing tone, "I know. It was my idea. I
gave it to them!"
They thought it very nice of her. She listened with great dignity to what
they said about the New Trickers. They would not be at the Astrarium on
the opening night. They were finishing an engagement on the Bill and Boom
that same evening. They would be in Paris the next day. Mr. Clifton was
reckoning on this appearance for the final triumph of his troupe ... and
he deserved it. What a man, Mr. Clifton, what a man! "Not easy to please,
eh, Lily?" And the inevitable gesture followed. But Lily would have none
of that now, she would not hear her Pa spoken of as a brute! Did they take
her for a performing dog? One was born with the gift or else one remained
all one's life a Daisy or a fat freak! She was proud to have a Pa like
hers. She wasn't a mountebank picked up on the road! Lily had a Pa and a
Ma: a Ma of her own, a Ma whom she was certain about. She bore a
well-known name. She belonged to the "father and son" aristocracy of the
music-hall. She had never needed "that" to make her practice, she an
artiste, brought up like a lady:
"Wasn't I, Glass-Eye? Tom, wasn't I?"
And the jewelry and the sweets her Pa bought her, my! Tons of it! Of
course, he would stand no nonsense about behavior; and Lily made them all
laugh till the tears came about that footy rotter who made love to her in
London, before the time when drink made him look so disgusting, and, when
she loitered in the street with him, Pa, the moment she reached the door,
caught her such a blow that she took all the steps to the basement at one
jump; and there found her Ma waiting for her ... gee!
"And they were quite right, too! And ... do they know that I'm going to
top the bill at the Astrarium?" she asked.
"No, they think you're in Spain or somewhere."
"Somewhere!" said Lily to herself, with a thrill at her heart. "I'll show
them!"
She choked with joy at the idea of the startled look on the faces of Pa
and Ma when they saw her on the aerobike. An exuberant gladness filled her
heart. And that feverish work, those laborers everywhere, the opening in
the roof, the terrace up above, those posters all over Paris and there,
behin
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