“You know what I mean––you’re worn out, and you look dreadfully––and I didn’t know we’d have to do so much––” She fumbled for the word. “What is it when a man stands outside, and tries to make people come in and look at the snake-charmer?”
“Ballyhoo. Would you have wanted me to stay out of it, if you’d known?”
She deliberated. “It’s funny––but I don’t think I would. In a way, it’s been good for both of us. I’ll just be glad when it’s over.... What sort of house did you have?”
Henry put on his best smile. “Not too good. Fair.”
“If we should fall down, after all we’ve done––oh, we can’t! Henry, we just can’t!”
“I used to know a poem,” he said, “that kept asking the question ‘Where are the snows of yesteryear?’ Well, if I could find out, and have ’em shovelled back in the street, we’d be in a good position. But as soon as the snow melted, so did the big crowds. I’ll never look a crocus in the face again. They’ve croaked us out of a couple of hundred a week, gross.”
“If we should fall down, do you know who I’d be sorry for? The managers of the other theatres. We’d just have been dogs in the manger. And every time I think about it, I don’t feel nearly as smart as I did last January. Of course, I suppose it was fair enough, but––”
“Fair? Oh, yes. That sort of thing’ll 239 always be fair––as long as there’s any business. Queer, though, when you come to think of it. We hadn’t any grudge against the other fellows; but they’d have stolen our idea, so we had to protect it. If they’d stolen our ten dollar bill, they’d have had to go to jail for it; but they could have stolen an idea worth ten thousand, and we’d just have had to stand back, and gibber. As long as that’s fair, then we were fair.”
“I wonder,” she said, “if all monopolists go through the same thing––first, they get such a wonderful scheme that they hardly dare to go to bed for fear they’ll talk in their sleep: then they’re crazy for fear it won’t work; then it does work, and they think they’re the Lord’s anointed; and bye-and-bye they look around and feel––sort of apologetic.”