staring at Lily's dress.

"I had a dress like that," she said slowly. "Where did you get it? Did Monty Lewis sell it to you?" She looked up at Lily's distressed expression. “Give it to you?"

Rip tried to distract Becky, but she wouldn't allow him to take her arm. Her eyes had tra- veled all the way up the alluring figure that Lily presented to the eyes that had only mascara on the lashes. Becky's mouth pop- ped open, a look of utter aston- ishment on her face.

"Yes," said Lily huskily. "It's me, Monty. Oh, why couldn't you stay in South Bend, even un- til tonight. I'd have been joining you then.".

Becky Blake groped for a chair at the nearest table grouping. "It is all my fault," said Rip, taking in at a glance the distress of both of them. While Becky sat there, her mouth agape, he launched in- to the story of Lily Dupree and the confusions of which he'd insisted Monty take advantage. He left out all account of the picnic and of Jim Douglas' visit to Lily in her room.

'I've got all the costumes safe,' said Lily at the end of Rip's tale, "and this." She opened the small bag that she always carried. Rip hadn't realized how much money he'd given her. The roll of bills she placed in Becky's hands made the girl's eyes almost pop again.

"The Lily Dupree act brings all this in?” asked Becky Blake, looking from one to the other.

"If she talks to the customers afterwards," said Hassell. Then he wished he hadn't said it as he saw how unhappy Lily was and the scornful look that Becky Blake gave her.

"But I'm not doing that any more," said Lily quickly.

Becky nodded, looking sharp- ly at Rip Hassell. "No," she snap-

ped. "We're artistes, not barroom girls."

Hassell shrugged. "It's where the money is," he said. "You must have come in with the bunch who'll be getting it all af- ter today."

"On the stage this afternoon?" Backy asked. Then she thought for a moment. She looked at Monty Lewis. “I can't believe it's you," she said at last, while Lily flushed and looked down, show- ing her long darkly colored lashes "You look so ... so feminine, and innocent. Whose idea was the bow?" She reached out and touched Lily's tresses.

"M-mine," stammered Lily, very confused by the girl's touch. "Show me your room," said Becky suddenly. "I want to talk to you alone."

As the two left, the same height and approximate shape, Rip Hassell would have been un- able to guess which was the man if he hadn't known.

Despite the attractions of Lyle Cooper's girls, who were con- stantly under the attention of Marshal John Dunford, perma- nently stationed in Cottonwood, the crowds at the Good Times were not diminished. The new attraction, Becky Blake, didn't have the flair of Lily Dupree, but she was good, a professional dancer/singer, too. And after a little while, she and Lily began once again to visit the miners at the tables. Jim Douglas visited Lily regularly and made a proper proposal to her. Lily's gracious denial left him still a friend, and even though his relations with Rip were glacial, neither caused any trouble while under Dun- ford's watchful eye.

The departure of Lily and Becky left a hole in the life of Cottonwood that wasn't really

filled, not even by George As- kin's girls, brought into the Good Times when Rip Hassell went East to become Lily and Becky's manager for their per- formances in the big cities. Becky Blake married a guy named Monty Lewis in a town that knew neither, before or after the ceremony, and then Becky retired from "the busi- ness." With the tours that Lily was doing, and the money that was rolling in, Becky didn't need to hit the boards herself. She was jealous of the men in Lily's life but she knew more than anyone, save perhaps Rip Hassell, who traveled with Lily constantly, that Lily was never unfaithful as the "Penny Dread- fuls" would have had her believe.

When Lily returned, exhausted after a tour of European capitals,

the principal cities of the coast, Becky Lewis would get to wear the jewels, the presents that Lily had collected on her travels. Becky had never tried to per- suade Lily to dress other than in her best dresses during their time together, and with time, she even forgot they'd intended Monty to return within a year of leaving Cottonwood. The songs written about Lily were a shock to both of them, almost as bad as the stories about Lily's love affairs, but, as Rip said to Becky one day, she shouldn't mind any story written about Lily Dupree. In fact, she should encourage the lies. After all, the only story none of them ever wanted in print was the true story, the one that only the three of them could write the true story, that a songwriter would call, "The Ballad of Lily Dupree."

END