“Lily has come back!”
He looked to right and left, had the satisfaction of distributing nods and bows to some artistes, with Lily on his arm, as though to say:
“You see it was wrong, all that people were saying, about those smackings! And the proof is, here she is,—on my arm, damn it!”
As for Lily, she thought only of showing herself:
“If Trampy could see me now!” she reflected. “And Jimmy, if he could see me, in my fine dress, while it’s still new!”
Regent Street reminded Lily of Pa’s generosity. She would not be behindhand. Pa had to accept a red tie, a pair of gloves, a match-box, as a present; Ma, an embroidered handkerchief, a lucky charm. Lily had the satisfaction of paying with gold and receiving change.
She was tired, in the evening, put on a languid air: gee, her mother would have shaken her for less in the old days! Lily put it on still more, to show them all that times were changed. But she did the troupe the honor of going to see their performance at the Castle. It was a great success for her.
“Made a bit, eh?” asked the manager, seeing her fine dress. “Coming back for good, to star with the New Zealanders?”
“I don’t know; I shall see.”
Lily was quite ready to come back, in her own mind, but she wanted to return in triumph. It all depended on the price offered: to think that she had worked for them at ten shillings a week, when she was worth quite two pounds a night! She would see; she would make her own conditions: for instance, herself in tights, the others in bloomers ... a special tune for her entrance ... no star beside herself!