“Fat Freak.”
The signature was underlined, for people had ended by knowing about Pa’s disrespectful remarks. Lily laughed when she heard this: my!
“I will come ... when you take to wearing braces!” another had answered.
This was an allusion to the blows with the belt; and Lily, with head thrown back, full-throated, her hand on her heart, laughed ... laughed ... laughed:
“Bravo, girls!” she said, applauding with her thumbnail.
And Tom? Tom had had the boot, with a bang on the nose, for carrying letters to Lily. For Pa ended by learning all: some one had told him.
“Jimmy, that son of a gun!” said Lily.
And Jimmy himself, what had become of that josser? Jimmy was no longer stage-manager. He had left everything after Lily’s flight. He, too, had flown into a terrible rage when he heard about it ... spoke of Trampy as a thief in the night ... would have killed him, if he had met him ... and he was going to star in his turn.
“Singing?” asked Lily.
“No, something to do with the bike.”