sordid
commercialism had suggested the construction of a Chinese joss-house,
or Indian bungalow--our description is a random one--that lent itself,
or was lent by the company, at really an almost nominal figure, for
entertainments in the afternoon all through the season. And round this
structure were things desirable by all mankind, and supposed to be
desired by possessors of one penny willing to part with it. For a
penny-in-the-slot you could learn your fate from a Sibyl, and repent
of having spent your penny on it. For another you could scent your
pocket-handkerchief, and be sorry you hadn't kept your penny for
chocolate. For another you could have the chocolate, and wish you
had waited and taken a cigarette. And for another you could take the
cigarette, and realise how ill-assorted are the flavours of chocolate
and the best Virginian tobacco.

But the pennyworth that seemed the worthiest of its penny was, no
doubt, the old-fashioned galvanic battery, which shocked you for
a sixth part of the smallest sum required by literature on first
publication. It had brass handles you took hold of, and brass basins
with unholy water in them that made you curl up, and anybody else
would do so too. And there was a bunch of wires to push in, and
agonize the victim who, from motives not easily understood, laid
himself open to torture. And it certainly said "whizzy-wizzy-wizz."
But Gwenny's description had been wrong in one point. For it was
yourself, the investigator, not the machine, that said "e-e-e-e!"

Now this machine was in charge of a young woman, who was also the
custodian of an invisible lady, who was to be seen for a penny each
person, children half-price. This appeared to be a contradiction in
terms, but public apathy accepted it without cavil. The taking of
this phenomenon's gate-money seemed to be almost a sinecure. Not so
the galvanic battery, which never disappointed any one. It might
disgust, or repel, those who had had no occasion to study this
branch of science, but it always acted up to its professions. Those
investigators who declined to have any more never could go away and
complain that they had not had enough. And no one had ever been
discontented with its baneful results when all the bundle of wires
was put in; indeed, the young person in charge said she had never
known any one to drain this cup of scientific experience to the dregs.
"Halfway in's enough for most," was her report of human endurance.
It wa