'Crimson Cord' brands comes to Perkins & Co. Get a cinch on the
aftermath!"

"Perkins!" I cried, "I admire you. You _are_ a genius. And have you
contracts with all these--notions?"

"Yes," said Perkins, "that's Perkins' method. Who originated the Crimson
Cord? Perkins did. Who is entitled to the profits on the Crimson Cord?
Perkins is. Perkins is wide awake _all_ the time. Perkins gets a profit
on the aftermath and the math and the before the math."

And so he did. He made his new contracts with the magazines on the
exchange plan--we gave a page of advertising in the "Crimson Cord" for
a page of advertising in the magazine. We guaranteed five million
circulation. We arranged with all the manufacturers of the Crimson Cord
brands of goods to give coupons, one hundred of which entitled the
holder to a copy of "The Crimson Cord." With a pair of Crimson Cord
suspenders you get five coupons; with each Crimson Cord cigar, one
coupon; and so on.


IV

On the first of October we announced in our advertisement that "The
Crimson Cord" was a book; the greatest novel of the century; a
thrilling, exciting tale of love. Miss Vincent had told me it was a love
story. Just to make everything sure, however, I sent the manuscript to
Professor Wiggins, who is the most erudite man I ever met. He knows
eighteen languages, and reads Egyptian as easily as I read English. In
fact his specialty is old Egyptian ruins and so on. He has written