"Secret process," said Skinner.
"It's more than that, it's an effective process. But what's important to us, Skinner, is—could you work it on other folks besides Jackson?"
"Yes—that is, most other men—middle-aged men."
"Why middle-aged men?"
"Because they're married—most middle-aged men are."
McLaughlin turned to Perkins. "I'm darned if he ain't gone and mashed the climber. That's what I think!"
Skinner thrust his hands into his pockets, walked over to the window, then turned and slowly came back to within a few feet of where McLaughlin was sitting.
"On my way back from St. Paul, Mr. McLaughlin," he said—and Perkins, recognizing the premonitory symptoms, crossed to the window and stood with his back to his partner and "the cage man"—"Mr. McLaughlin," Skinner repeated after a pause, "I've been thinking that the most valuable man to any concern is the one that gets the business for it."
"Right-o!" said McLaughlin.
"And the hardest man to get," Skinner went on, "is the customer you get back. You not only have to pry him loose from some other concern with better figures, but you have his personal pride to overcome. To come back is a surrender."