deed was, and ought to be treated as such. "It shall be a lark!"
he said to himself.

Sir John dictated a letter to Miss Taft, and before the letter was
finished the grinning Chung had laid a place for Edward Henry, and
Snip had inspected him and passed him for one of the right sort.

"Had I said that this is rather a lark?" Sir John inquired, the letter
accomplished.

"I forget," said Edward Henry.

"Because I don't like to say the same thing twice over if I can help
it. It _is_ a lark though, isn't it?"

"Undoubtedly," said Edward Henry, decapitating an egg. "I only hope
that I'm not interrupting you."

"Not in the least," said Sir John. "Breakfast is my sole free time. In
another half hour I assure you I shall be attending to three or four
things at once." He leant over towards Edward Henry. "But between you
and me, Alderman, quite privately, if it isn't a rude question, what
did you come for?"

"Well," said Edward Henry, "as I wrote on my card, I'm the sole
proprietor of the Regent Theatre--"

"But there is no Regent Theatre," Sir John interrupted him.

"No. Not strictly. But there will be. It's in course of construction.
We're up to the first floor."

"Dear me! A suburban theatre, no doubt?"

"Do you mean to say, Sir John," cried Edward Henry, "that you haven't
noticed it? It's within a few yards of Piccadilly Circus."

"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