The 'Mind the Paint' Girl Part 47

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 s.h.i.+llings 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.

[_Brus.h.i.+ng 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.