e.

When Lily went home again she did not even think of what she had just
heard. The death of the Paras; the Graces ... Nunkie, that old rogue!...
She forgot all about it.... She saw only that: the theater, the aerobike,
the theater! Ah! she had it in her blood, in spite of those ugly stories!
Even outside, when, upon Jimmy's advice, she went to take the air in the
parks, under the great blue sky, she regretted the dark stage, the canvas
landscapes of the back-drops; the open-air scenery appeared paltry to her,
beside it. Between her and nature there was always the aerobike! In a few
days ... was it possible? She clenched her little hands over an imaginary
handle-bar, hardened her pigeon's eggs, made pedaling movements, in spite
of herself, on the floor of the tram-car which she very soon took to get
back to the theater again! It was her life, her joy, her suffering, her
good and evil ... it was her field, her very own field, the field which
she had sown with sweat that she might reap fame and glory.

And, when she returned, she reveled in that smell of hot glue and tar and
scent; oh, it was much nicer than the country! And more interesting, too:
all the little drama that was being enacted among the Graces, for
instance; Nunkie had lost his wonderful reputation, he was surrounded with
less reverence; the story of the confiscated letters was beginning its
round of the world. It was all very well for him to spoil his dear girls,
to double his attentions, to treble the doses of bromide; there was no
doubt about it, the troupe's days were numbered. The boy-violinist and
others were making love to the Three Graces, fresh troupes were being
formed, three more, any number! And they all talked freely, turned their
backs without hesitation upon Nunkie, who was prowling round:

"Well?" he asked. "What's the mystery?"

"We were discussing marriage, Nunkie," the Graces answered.

"That's right, my children," he replied, with a sigh.

Lily, in all these plots and counter-plots, knew how to remain neuter and
to be very nice to everybody; she had been trained from childhood to keep
her opinions to herself; none of her damned business, all that; something
that might have been foreseen and expected ... like the death of old
Martello, which Jimmy told her of.... Yes, the old man had flickered out
in his bed just like that....

But she needed all her composure, indeed, when Jimmy told her that those
dear little Bambinis ... ah, ther