divorced, Jimmy could marry her; and Trampy would see him further first!
The greater Jimmy became, the more jealous Trampy grew. He knew the steps
Lily had taken to obtain a divorce, the witnesses she had tried to secure.
She was very keen on a divorce, was she? All the more reason for not
gratifying her; and she wasn't going to get it. The witnesses, Trampy had
just heard, declined to give evidence. They had seen nothing, heard
nothing. A bike at her head? Maybe. They didn't know. A bit of a fuss
between artistes, such as you see every day, and none of their damned
business. Outside that, Lily had nothing to go upon; on the contrary. She
had abandoned the conjugal home; all the wrong, apparently, was on her
side. He, Trampy, alone was entitled to file a petition; but that never!
He considered that Jimmy and Lily had trifled with him sufficiently. He
could not swallow the idea that they were only waiting for the divorce to
get married; the idea that Lily would be Mrs. Jimmy, of her own free
choice, after marrying him, Trampy, to escape her whippings; no, he
couldn't swallow that! Now it rested entirely with him to prevent that
marriage. He had only to keep his dear little wife for himself. In that
case, Jimmy, if he wanted her, would be obliged to do without her or else
to "live with her" and set a bad example, lavish bestower of good advice
that he was, the dirty hypocrite, preaching morality to others! That was
what Trampy had determined to do. As for Lily, Trampy, who was incapable,
at bottom, of either hatred or love, didn't care one way or the other. He
was always sure to want for nothing, so long as there were girls on the
boards and whisky in the bars.

There was another reason still that urged him to let matters rest, without
going further. To embark on a divorce-case, to have his name in the papers
and his story hawked round the four quarters of the globe--"Trampy, you
know. You knew Trampy, didn't you? The husband of Lily?" and so on--was
what he didn't want at any price, for a reason known to himself. He had
made inquiries, quite privately, at the beginning, when he thought of
petitioning for a divorce; and what he had learned had made him prudent:
his marriage in America was valid beyond a doubt. He was well and duly
married, whether he liked it or not. By the common law, two wives meant
bigamy; and bigamy meant prison, which was the last thing he wanted, as he
himself said. But, so long as there was no scan