"No, I'm blowed if I did! but I shall know where to look in the future."
"Ah, quite so!" Darwen was thoughtful, he knew that Carstairs was a particularly keen observer.
They reconstructed switchboards and overhauled engines. They tested and calibrated all the consumers' meters; some had been paying for juice they had never used; others, and the great majority, had been using current far in excess of that for which they paid. Carstairs found a meter in a councillor greengrocer's shop that must have been entirely stopped for months.
The genial representative of the people descended into his cellar and watched the new meter being installed. "Are you going to make my bill lighter, Mr Carstairs?" he asked, with an anticipatory smile.
"No, heavier, I'm afraid, Mr Green."
"What!" The smile faded at once. "Very well, I shall have it taken out."
Carstairs looked at him calmly, searchingly. "Just as you like, of course, Mr Green. We can't afford to give the juice away, you know."
"You can't afford! What do you mean? That's not the way to talk to consumers. I'm afraid you don't know your business, Mr Carstairs."
"On the contrary, I think I know it very well, Mr Green."
"Very well, I shall bring the matter up at the next committee. Things are going from bad to worse."