"When the society was instituted, we took a few of them, but merely to get our hands in.

We didn't want to bungle good cases, you see, and it did not matter so much for them." "How did you do it ?" "We waited at the stage-door, and went off with the first person who came out, male or female." "But I understood you did not take up women ?" "Nor do we.

Theatrical people constitute a sex by themselves--like curates." "Then can't I even do the man who stands at the theatre doors, all shirt-front and diamonds ?" The president shivered.
"If you happen to be passing, at any rate," he said.
"And surely some of the playwrights would be better dead.

They must see that themselves." "They have had their chance," said the president.

Despite his nationality, Andrew had not heard the story, so the president told it him.
"Many years ago, when the drama was in its infancy, some young men from Stratford-on-Avon and elsewhere resolved to build a theatre in London.
"The times, however, were moral, and no one would imperil his soul so far as to give them a site.
"One night, they met in despair, when suddenly the room was illumined by lightning, and they saw the devil in the midst of them.
"He has always been a large proprietor in London, and he had come to strike a bargain with them.