ers" and "sisters," returning from London,
Manchester, or Glasgow. He would have ended by seeing them all again in
time. There were other Lilies shooting up, Lilies "that high," elbowed by
every vice, petted by every hand, kissed by every pair of lips. His
sympathy went out to them all; and Lily had lived amid all that; it was
just her life. He found something to remind him of her at every turn, on
those stages on which she had performed. He seemed to see her near him,
with her light walk, in her little black dress, looking so nice in her
"performing-dog" toque: the poor little silly thing, running away with
that thief in the night and left alone now, quite alone, it appeared,
among the "rotten lot." The thought drove him mad:

"Damn that girl!" he said to himself. "I don't love her. Then why am I
always thinking about her?"

And he rushed into work, into danger, when he thought of that; risked
terrible leaps in "Bridging the Abyss." He sometimes felt as though he
were rushing toward oblivion, into the jaws of death! And his great
project also nearly outweighed Lily's influence:

"What are the leaps in 'Bridging the Abyss,'" he thought, "if not a
fractional flight? If I had two flat surfaces, one on either side, and a
motor behind me, it seems to me that I should continue to go upward; and
the best rudder would be the man riding it, with his flexible body, his
springy back: a live weight is less heavy than a dead weight. How many
hundred volts does pluck stand for ... or skill ... or hatred ... or
love?"

By dint of composing his machine in his head and studying it on paper,
Jimmy grew calmer. He thought less about Lily, or, at least, thought about
her only in her interest, not his. For instance, in that little town in
the West which was not on his tour, but in which Trampy had appeared,
Jimmy tried to obtain information. He went out of his way in order to make
inquiries. A marriage with Trampy Wheel-Pad? It was impossible to discover
anything; and he would not be able to make Lily the magnificent present
which he had dreamed of: her divorce from Trampy!

And "Miss Lily," Miss Lily, always; he was not satisfied with thinking of
her, he heard her name mentioned. Boys and girls who had seen Lily in
England and whom the chances of travel brought across his path in America
told him with many amplifications, of her outrageous adventures, her
passion for flirting. She no longer did all her turn. She paid more
attention t