Page:Zangwill-King of schnorrers.djvu/262

248 248 THE PRINCIPAL BOY.

It was his welcome home.

" Brute?" he echoed interrogatively, in a low, hoarse whisper.

" Brute and cad ! " said the Prince vehemently, the mu- sical tones strident with anger. " Is this your faith, your loyalty — to sneak back home like a thief — to peep through the keyhole to see if I was a good little girl — ?"

" Lucy ! Don't ! " he interrupted in anguished tones. "As there is a heaven above us, I had no suspicion — "

" But you have now," the Prince interrupted with a bitter laugh. Neither made any attempt to touch the other, though they were but a few inches apart. " Out with it ! "

" Lucy, I have nothing to say against you. How should I? I know nothing. It is for you to speak. For pity's sake tell me all. What is this masquerade?"

"This masquerade? " She touched her pink tights — he shuddered at the touch. "These are — " She paused. Why not tell the easy lie and be done with the whole busi- ness, and marry the dear, devoted boy? But the mad instinct of revolt and resentment swept over her in a flood that dragged the truth from her heart and hurled it at him. " These are the legs of Prince Prettypet. If I am lucky, I shall stand on them in the pantomime of The Enchanted Princess ; or, Harlequin Dick Turpiii, at the Oriental Theatre. The man who has the casting of the part is coming to see how I look."

"You have gone on the stage?"

"Yes; I couldn't live on your lectures," Prince Prettypet said, still in the same resentful tone. " I couldn't fritter away the little capital I had when mamma died, and then wait for starvation. I had no useful accomplishments. I could only recite — Athalie."

" But surely your aunt — "