"Yes, Sir John. The ceremony will be a very original affair—very original!"
"A foundation-stone-laying!" mused Sir John. "But if you're already up to the first floor, how can you be laying the foundation-stone on Wednesday week?"
"I didn't say foundation-stone. I said corners-tone," Edward Henry [193] corrected him. "An entire novelty! That's why we can't be ready before Wednesday week."
"And you want to advertise your house by getting the head of the profession to assist?"
"That is exactly my idea."
"Well," said Sir John, "whatever else you may lack, Mr. Alderman, you are not lacking in nerve, if you expect to succeed in that."
Edward Henry smiled. "I have already heard, in a roundabout way," he replied, "that Sir Gerald Pompey would not be unwilling to officiate. My only difficulty is that I'm a truthful man by nature. Whoever officiates I shall of course have to have him labelled, in my own interests, as the head of the theatrical profession, and I don't want to say anything that isn't true."
There was a pause.
"Now, Sir John, couldn't you stay a day or two longer in London, and join the ship at Marseilles instead of going on board at Tilbury?"
"But I have made all my arrangements. The whole world knows that I am going on board at Tilbury."