'You expected a higher figure?'
'We did.'
'I knew it. And the figure might be higher if I chose. Only I do things in rather a royal way, you see. I pay my staff five hundred a week more than I need. And I allow myself to be cheated.' He laughed suddenly. 'Costume department, for instance. I send charming costumes out on approval, and fetch them back in two days. And the pretty girls who have taken off the tickets, and worn the garments, and carefully restored the tickets, and lied to my carmen—the pretty girls imagine they have deceived me. They have merely amused me. My detective reports are excellent reading. And, moreover, I like to think that I have helped a pretty girl to make the best of herself.'
'Immoral and unbusinesslike, Mr. Hugo.'
'Admitted. I have no doubt that if I put the screw on all round I could quite justifiably increase my profits by fifty per cent.'
'That shows what a splendid prospect a limited company would have.'
'Yes, doesn't it?' said Hugo joyously.
'But why are your clients so anxious to turn me into a limited company?'
'They see in your undertaking,' replied Polycarp, folding his thin hands, 'a legitimate opening for that joint-stock enterprise which has had such a beneficial effect on England's prosperity.'
'They would make a profit?'