mpy could
not understand this jealousy. When he was confronted with these outbursts,
he was greatly surprised, sought for a reason, muttered Jimmy's name--that
was his sensitive point: he thought of it in spite of himself--ironically
inquired of Lily if it was Jimmy who had put all that nonsense into her
head. Lily was sorry to see the conversation take this turn. She flung her
arms round her husband's neck, loved him, kissed him prettily, the great
silly: he knew better; he knew she never thought of Jimmy:

"Kiss me, darling! I wish you would make me happy," said Lily, moved to
pity for herself. "I want to be a good little wife!"

Thereupon they made it up. Lily did not feel, with her husband, that
thrill which she had often noticed in other women: but she wanted to love
him, stubbornly pursued the idea, fagged away at her love like a little
school-girl only too anxious to learn. Trampy, on his side, could be
amiable when he liked. He became the old Trampy again at times and treated
Lily like a little playfellow. They would both run about in the
_Biergarten_, in the morning, at practice-time, larking like children,
hiding behind the tables, and their laughter enlivened the empty place,
still soiled with the remnants of last night's meal and littered with
programs and cigar-stumps.

And time passed like this for weeks ... it was months now ... an existence
like another, with good in it and bad ... and monotonous and common....

"I should have been better off, perhaps, at home," she thought. "If this
is marriage, it's not much."

For, she saw it quite clearly, _that_ wasn't love; Trampy didn't
understand her. A "girl" and a wife were all the same to Trampy: a mere
pastime, both of them. He spoke of it lightly, through the smoke of his
cigar. She learned to know him, heard him boast of his prowess, caught
passing words:

"Girls, girls, my!"

She would have laughed, she would even have felt flattered at being chosen
among so many, if he had put an end to his conquests. But he continued to
prowl round the stage-girls, as he used to do before he was married. If
even he had shone upon the stage, she would have understood that he had
got "swelled head," that he was yielding to temptation; but his success
was only middling. He had not made a hit at Hamburg. The manager of
Ludwig's had told him flatly that he would do well to practise and
practise a great deal. Trampy posed as a victim of jealousy, spoke of
showing them-