join it, of course, till after allotment--that's because I'm
the vendor, as they call it--but that hasn't interfered
at all with my running the whole show. The Board doesn't
really count, you know. It only does what I want it to do.
It's just a form that costs me seventeen hundred a year,
that's all."

"Seventeen hundred a year," she repeated, mechanically.

"Well, then we got out the prospectus, d'ye see.
Or first, there were other things to be done. I saw that
a good broker's name counted for a lot on a prospectus.
I picked out one that I'd heard was reasonable--it'd been
a splendid name if I could have got it--but he calmly said
his price was two thousand pounds, all cash down--and I
came away. Finally I got a fellow who hadn't done much
of anything yet, and so wasn't so stiff about his figure.
He agreed to take 500 pounds cash, and 2,000 in shares.
It was God's luck that I hit on him, for he turned out,
at the pinch, to be the one man in a million for me.
But I'll tell you about him later. He's the Broker, mind;
you mustn't forget him. Well, then, he and I got a
Solicitor--he took 200 pounds cash, but he had to have 2,000
shares--and the firm of Auditors--they were 100 pounds
cash and 1,000 shares. Every company has to have these
people pasted on to it, by law. Oh yes, and then you must
have your Bankers. You don't pay them anything, though,
thank God! Well, then, there was the machinery complete,
all ready to start. I took a handsome set of offices,
and furnished them up to the nines--but that I was able