"
"Really!" said Sir John. "You see my theatre is in Lower Regent Street
and I never go to Piccadilly Circus. I make a point of not going
to Piccadilly Circus. Miss Taft, how long is it since I went to
Piccadilly Circus? Forgive me, young woman, I was forgetting--you
aren't old enough to remember. Well, never mind details.... And what
is there remarkable about the Regent Theatre, Alderman?"
"I intend it to be a theatre of the highest class, Sir John," said
Edward Henry. "Nothing but the very best will be seen on its boards."
"That's not remarkable, Alderman. We're all like that. Haven't you
noticed it?"
"Then secondly," said Edward Henry, "I am the sole proprietor. I
have no financial backers, no mortgages, no partners. I have made no
contracts with anybody."
"That," said Sir John, "is not unremarkable. In fact many persons who
do not happen to possess my own robust capacity for belief might not
credit your statement."
"And thirdly," said Edward Henry, "every member of the audience--even
in the boxes, the most expensive seats--will have a full view of the
whole of the stage--or, in the alternative, at _matinees_, a full view
of a lady's hat."
"Alderman," said Sir John, gravely, "before I offer you another egg,
let me warn you against carrying remarkableness too far. You may be
regarded as eccentric if you go on like that.
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