agents, people were talking of the new
music-hall. It even became a current joke. They said, "So-and-So's
performing at the Astrarium," as though to say, "He's not performing! He's
living in a castle in the air!" Every one was talking of the great
music-hall which was to open in a few months and which was not to be seen
building anywhere. Some said that it was serious; they quoted engagements:
Tom; the Three Graces; the impersonator; nothing but turns quite unknown
to Paris; novelties, nothing but novelties: Marjutti; Laurence, perhaps;
or the New Trickers. Lily shivered when she heard that!... She opened wide
eyes, like Alice in Wonderland. Oh, to appear there! But she had performed
in Paris. Then she would change her name; bike mixed with dancing; and her
whole trick done backward, as Pa had once advised Trampy to do in Mexico!
Oh, if she could have that! Lily Godiva, undressed on the bike! She'd show
them she was a lady, not a performing dog! The Astrarium, that was
certain, would open in Paris in a few months. Harrasford had said so
himself. There was no doubt about it. They even told the name of the
stage-manager, Joe Brooks, the cleverest of all. Lily felt herself carried
away with ambition. Oh! to open there! Oh, if it were true! God grant that
it might come true! Oh, if Daisy, their star, could only break a leg! The
few days which Lily was still to remain in Paris, before leaving for
Spain, she employed in obtaining further information. She learned the most
exact particulars. Incredible though it seemed, the Astrarium was to open
quite shortly! The blue-chins discussed the thing, amid clouds of tobacco
smoke, in the bars, after the show. To allude to it now was not like
talking of castles in the air; on the contrary. To tease a pal, one said:

"You're opening at the Astrarium, aren't you? I _don't_ think!"

Which was another way of saying:

"The Astrarium's no place for you! They're taking nothing but bill-toppers
there!"

The new music-hall, even before it came into existence, was beginning to
spread, like the story of the whippings; it would be talked about, all
round the world, as something stunning, a more complete show than the
Tivoli at Sidney or the New York Hippodrome. Harrasford was credited with
designs for a palace in onyx and marble. He had bought or was going to buy
a theater with the object of transforming it; names and prices were given.
Everybody was interested in it. Just now, especially, when