f girls would swoop down at once, like a flight of thrushes, or
exchange funny remarks over other people's heads and blow volleys of
kisses in every direction.

Trampy, always full of good stuff, amused the company. He lorded it in the
select corner, the corner of the stage-manager and the pretty girls. After
supper, he cocked a cigar between his teeth and told thick stories in the
midst of an admiring throng. Lily followed with her lips, so as not to
lose a word, but, when the final point was at hand, she blushed in
advance, turned away her head, as though tired of listening without
understanding, and talked to her neighbor, like a lady who respects
herself. Or, sometimes, it was more than she could help and Lily would
laugh and laugh:

"Oh, dear! Oh, my!"

Then they would "talk shop" among pros, they passed one another the
papers: _Der Artist, The Era, Das Program_, they discussed engagements,
quoted personal anecdotes: the Ma who made her star go down to the
kitchen, lest the landlady, when peeling the potatoes, should slip one
into her pocket. Yes, her own daughter, a star who brought her in a
hundred marks a day!

"That's just like it!" thought Lily.

They made fun of that prof who pinched his apprentices till the blood
came, while pretending to smile, or clawed them like a monkey. And the
company laughed and laughed, especially when Trampy put out his hand to
Lily to show her how the monkeys ... Lily would jump back and the crowd
roared with laughter. And the glasses of beer and Moselwein accumulated on
the table; and round backs were bent over interminable games of cards....

And then, gradually, the room emptied; the girls went away and Lily,
waiting for her husband, sank into her chair and yawned as though her jaws
would drop. As they left, she reproached Trampy for his coarseness: those
horrid stories which made her blush before everybody's eyes. Her Pa would
never have permitted himself ... She was not accustomed ...

"That didn't keep you from splitting your sides with laughter," said
Trampy.

"What an idea!" replied Lily, in a vexed tone. "Do you think I'm going to
play the goody goody 'lalerperlooser'? One has to do as others do and not
make one's self conspicuous."

"Quite right!" said Trampy.

But she turned crimson with rage when Trampy, some other night, forgot
himself so far as to monkey-claw the girls. There were short violent
scenes when they returned home, chairs upset, angry words. Tra