ed: one more rung
which he had mounted, thanks to his Lily, that engagement with the best
variety-show in the States; nothing but big theaters: Orpheums! Dominions!
And New York next! And then London! Things were moving, moving! And Pa
looked lovingly at his Lily, as she played at being grown up with the
Three Graces, in the train on Sunday, traveling from town to town, while
Ma was knitting things for her tomboy. He talked to Mr. Fuchs as between
equals, as between man and man, as between the manager of a star and the
owner of a troupe; and the train rushed on, rushed on, with an indistinct
sound of the engine-bell, now and again, when they crossed a street. Mr.
Fuchs, heavy-jawed, slow of speech, said that he had had enough of
traveling, at his age, if it were not for his dear nieces. He would like
to retire to the country, to his little home, and grow his roses, as soon
as he had married off his dear nieces, which would not be long, no doubt.
As it was, one of them, Thea, the one who did five pullings-up with her
left hand, had his permission to receive letters from her sweetheart, a
young man at St. Louis, quite well-off. The idyl made good Mr. Fuchs
blossom into a genial smile: family life! Simple joys! The only true ones!
Worth more than the stage! And Nunkie talked and talked: the Parisienne, a
perpetual scandal! And wait a bit: what was that he heard at an agent's
the other day? Yes, the daughter of his old friend Martello, Ave Maria her
name was, had left her brother, and run away from Mexico with a man! Tut,
tut, the things one saw nowadays!

Pa hardly listened to the old crock, preferred to dream of New York and
the success his Lily would achieve there! And Lily, sitting close by,
listened with all her ears, puckered her little forehead: love, love....
And Ave Maria, who had run away with a man.... Why with a man? And she
squeezed up against Thea, the Grace who was in love ... put question after
question.... She talked of her boy-violinist, of Trampy. And they all
laughed boisterously, with heads thrown back, full-throated, and Nunkie,
very paternally, congratulated Mr. Clifton on his daughter's niceness.

"For goodness' sake, don't go putting it into her head that she's pretty,
the little devil!" protested Ma. "That would be the last straw!"

* * * * *

The arrival in New York was a disappointment to Pa. The authorities
insisted on seeing the papers this time. Li