uld really become too easy, else, to steal
other people's ideas! You know quite well, Lily--you saw it at my place,
on the wall--is it my invention or is it not? And here comes Trampy," he
continued, crunching up his cigarette with a nervous gesture, "and patents
it ... as if it were his own. It's a bit too much, you know!"

"Jimmy," cried Lily, starting up from her chair, "I swear to you that I
had nothing to do with it! If I had known, Jimmy, I would have stopped it!
I call it stealing, as you do."

"Oh, I'm quite sure of that, Lily! I never thought it was you! Calm
yourself; sit down, do," said Jimmy, relieved at the sight of Lily's
indignation, as she stood before him with blazing eyes and her face
crimson with shame.

"Important tricks like that!" went on Lily, sitting down again. "No, those
have no right to be copied. It's brain-work. You designed it yourself."

"Yes, but about the present," said Jimmy, with a serious air. "I can't
give in to Trampy. I'm bound to defend myself. You came to see me about my
action, Lily. I can't say anything on the subject. It's ... Trampy's
business, I suppose! Why, what would you do in my place, Lily?"

"I should do as you're doing, Jimmy, you're perfectly right," said Lily,
very low, without raising her head. "But couldn't one come to terms ...
avoid a lawsuit ... and not waste all that money on jossers? What do you
gain by it yourself? We can't pay up, Jimmy: those costs are breaking
us."

"What do you mean by 'us'?"

"Trampy isn't working," continued Lily. "He hasn't done anything for a
long time."

"But then," asked Jimmy, stopping in front of her, "how does he live?"

"I ... I'm earning money," explained Lily, blushing, ashamed to own her
distress.

Oh, it was hard for her, Lily Clifton, to have no money and to confess it
to Jimmy, that josser, who was making his five hundred marks a day! Jimmy
saw her before him, huddled in her chair ... her faded hat, her mean gown.
He took in everything at a glance. Poor Lily, who used to dream of
dresses, to be reduced to that! Then he understood. Pity moved him at the
sight of that poor Lily. It was all very well for him to say, just now,
"Business is business," and to ask, "What would you do in my place?" He
knew what he would do. A lawsuit was not a question of sentiment,
everybody knew that; but still, it was no longer between men....

"Listen, Lily," he said, putting his hand kindly on her shoulder, "if all
this is to fa