“And no other star but me!” continued Lily, explaining her idea: undressing on the stage, or else the statue, her own scenery ...
“Capital idea!” cried Pa.
“And then there’s the money side of the question,” said Lily. “I make a lot of money now. I want to work for myself.”
“And what you make with us, won’t it be yours, one day?” suggested Ma.
“Stay with us,” said Pa, “and Trampy will burst with spite and you’ll be much happier here, with your Pa and Ma, instead of with that good-for-nothing!”
“Or instead of remaining alone, which is even worse,” Ma insisted. “You want us still, Lily ...”
“And you me! Let us talk business,” interrupted Lily, who would have liked a pencil and paper, to make her calculations with.
Ma, in her heart of hearts, did not think it at all nice of a daughter to consider only her own interests; but Pa hurried up, thought Lily was quite right ... although he was greatly embarrassed in reality and asked himself how much he could well offer her, so as to make a profit for himself.
Fortunately, he was relieved of his predicament by Glass-Eye, who came in with a telegram for Miss Lily.
“Give it here!” said Lily, who noticed, as she opened the envelope, that a chair had creaked and that the palm of her left hand was itching: a sign of money. “I’ll bet it’s about an engagement. I have offers from every side; you have no idea ... Well, I never!” she said. “A telegram from Jimmy, at the Horse Shoe! I thought he was at Whitcomb Mansions. What can he want with me? He asks me to call on him! Funny way of treating a lady. Why can’t he come himself?”