"How did she _get_ the option?" Edward Henry inquired, putting into
the query all the innuendo of a man accustomed to look at great
worldly affairs from the inside.
"How did she get it? She got it from the late Lord Woldo. She was
always very friendly with the late Lord Woldo, you know." Edward Henry
nodded. "Why, she and the Countess of Chell are as thick as thieves!
You know something about the Countess down here, I reckon?"
The Countess of Chell was the wife of the supreme local magnate.
Edward Henry answered calmly, "We do."
He was tempted to relate a unique adventure of his youth, when he
had driven the Countess to a public meeting in his mule-carriage, but
sheer pride kept him silent.
"I asked you for the figures," he added, in a manner which requested
Mr. Bryany to remember that he was the founder, chairman and
proprietor of the Five Towns Universal Thrift Club, one of the most
successful business organizations in the Midlands.
"Here they are!" said Mr. Bryany, passing across the table a sheet of
paper.
And as Edward Henry studied them he could hear Mr. Bryany faintly
cooing into his ear: "Of course Rose got the ground-rent reduced.
And when I tell you that the demand for theatres in the West End far
exceeds the supply, and that theatre rents are always going up ...
When I tell you that a theatre costing L25,000 to build can be let
for L11,000 a year, and often L300 a week on a short term .
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