FARNCOMBE.
Was that----?
LILY.
[_Nodding._] H"m; that was my start in the world. Father kept a small shop in Kennington-- Gladwin Street, near the Oval. We sold groceries, and b.u.t.ter and eggs and cheese, and pickled-pork and paraffin. I was born there-- on the second floor; and in Gladwin Street I lived till I was fourteen. Then father smashed, through the Stores cutting into our little trade. Well, hardly smashed; that"s too imposing. The business just faded, and one morning we didn"t bother to take the shutters down. Then, after a while, father got a starvation berth-- eighteen shillings a week!-- at a wholesale bacon warehouse-- Price and Moseley"s-- still over the water; and I earned an extra five at a place in the Westminster Bridge Road, for pasting the gilt edges on to pa.s.se-partouts from nine a.m. till six in the evening.
FARNCOMBE.
[_His head bowed again._] Great heavens!
LILY.
Not a syllable against the pa.s.se-partouts! They were the making of me.
It was the pa.s.se-partouts that brought me and Tedder together.
FARNCOMBE.
Who?
LILY.
Tedder. In the house where I worked, a man of the name of Tedder-- Ambrose Tedder-- taught dancing-- stage dancing-- "Tedder"s Academy of Saltatory Art"-- and every time I pa.s.sed Tedder"s door, and heard his violin or piano, and the sound of the pupils" feet, I--! [_Breaking off and throwing herself back._] Oh, lor", if once I----!
FARNCOMBE.
Go on; go on.
LILY.
Well, ultimately Tedder took me and trained me-- did it for nix-- for what he hoped to get out of me in the future. Ah, and he _hasn"t_ lost over me-- poor old Ambrose! He collared a third of my salary for ever so long; and now that the old chap"s rheumaticky and worn out, I-- oh, it"s not worth mentioning. [_Jumping up and walking away._] My stars, he could teach, could Tedder! I began by going to him for the last twenty minutes of my dinner-hour. He wanted to stop _that_, because it was bad for me, he said, to practise on a full-- a full--! Ha, ha, ha!
On a _full_--! [_Behind the table, resting her two hands upon it and shaking with laughter._] Ho, ho, ho! As if I ever had-- in those days----!
FARNCOMBE.
[_Writhing._] Ah, don"t-- don"t----!
LILY.
[_Brushing the tears from her eyes._] I was a pupil of Tedder"s for twelve months, and then he got me on at the Canterbury; and from the Canterbury I went to Gatti"s, and from Gatti"s to the Lane, for a few lines in the pantomime and an understudy-- my first appearance in the West End-- [_singing_] "Oh, the West End is the best end!"-- and from there I went to the old Strand, and there Morrie Cooling spotted me, and that led to me being engaged at the Pandora, where I ate my heart out, doing next to nothing, for two whole years. Then came the production of _The d.u.c.h.ess of Brixton_, and it was in _The d.u.c.h.ess_-- thanks to Vincent Bland-- that I sang the "Mind the Paint" song. He believed in me, did Vincent; _he_ saw I was fit for something more than just prancing about, and airing my ankles, in a gay frock. By Jupiter, how he fought for me; _how_ he fought for me, up to the final rehearsal! And to this day, whenever I indulge in a prayer, you bet Vincent Bland has a paragraph all to himself in it! [_Checking herself and coming to FARNCOMBE._] Oh, but-- I needn"t inflict quite so much of my biography on you, need I? [_He rises._] Sorry. I merely wanted to tell you enough to show you-- to show you----
FARNCOMBE.
[_Close to her, gazing into her eyes._] To show me what a-- what a _marvel_ you are!
LILY.
[_Pleased._] Ha, ha! Oh, I"m not chucking mud at myself really. Why should I! Many a woman "ud feel as vain as a peac.o.c.k in my shoes.
Fancy! From the shop in Gladwin Street to-- [_with a gesture_] to _this_! And from Tedder"s stuffy room in the Westminster Bridge Road to the stage of the Pandora, as princ.i.p.al girl!
FARNCOMBE.
[_Tenderly._] Wonderful!
LILY.
[_Carried away by her narration and putting her hands upon his shoulders familiarly._] Yes, and all the schooling I"ve ever had, Eddie, was at a cheap, frowsy day-school in Kennington, with a tribe of other common, skinny-legged brats. Imagine it!
FARNCOMBE.
[_Taking her hands._] I can"t imagine it; I defy anybody to.
LILY.
[_Unthinkingly allowing him to retain her hands._] Everything I"ve learned since-- except my music, and that I owe to Tedder and Vincent-- everything I"ve learned since, I"ve learned by sheer cuteness, from novels, the papers, the theatres, and by keeping my ears open like a cunning little parrot. [_Softly._] Ha, ha! That"s what I am-- a cunning little parrot!
FARNCOMBE.
[_Laughing with her._] Ha, ha!
LILY.
[_Tossing her head._] Ho, I dare say, if I had the opportunity, I could imitate the fine _ly_dies _you_ mix with, so that in less than six months you"d hardly know the difference between them and me!
FARNCOMBE.
[_Holding her hands to his breast._] There is no difference already; there _is_ none.
LILY.
Isn"t there! [_Almost nestling up to him._] Ah, you should see me in one of my vile tempers. [_Wistfully._] Then-- then you wouldn"t--!
[_Becoming conscious of her proximity to him, she backs away and stands rubbing the palms of her hands together in embarra.s.sment._]
Anyhow-- anyhow it isn"t my intention to give you a chance of comparing us.
FARNCOMBE.
[_Under his breath._] Oh-- Miss Parradell----!
LILY.
[_Collecting herself._] No, I-- I"m not going to let you make a fool of yourself over _me_, if I can help it.
FARNCOMBE.
Fool----!
LILY.