Hugo | Page 6

back in two days. And the pretty girls who
have taken off the tickets, and worn the garments, and carefully
restored the tickets, and lied to my carmen--the pretty girls imagine
they have deceived me. They have merely amused me. My detective
reports are excellent reading. And, moreover, I like to think that I have
helped a pretty girl to make the best of herself.'
'Immoral and unbusinesslike, Mr. Hugo.'
'Admitted. I have no doubt that if I put the screw on all round I could
quite justifiably increase my profits by fifty per cent.'
'That shows what a splendid prospect a limited company would have.'
'Yes, doesn't it?' said Hugo joyously.
'But why are your clients so anxious to turn me into a limited
company?'
'They see in your undertaking,' replied Polycarp, folding his thin hands,
'a legitimate opening for that joint-stock enterprise which has had such
a beneficial effect on England's prosperity.'
'They would make a profit?'
'A reasonable profit. A small syndicate would be formed to buy from
you, and that syndicate would sell to a public company. The usual
thing.'
'And where do I come in?'
'Where do you come in, my dear Mr. Hugo? Everywhere! You would
receive over a million in cash. You would have your salary and your
percentage, and you would be relieved of all your present risks.'
'All my present risks?'
'You have risks, Mr. Hugo, because your business has increased so
rapidly that your income is out of all proportion to your capital, which

consists almost solely of buildings which you could not sell at anything
like their cost price in open market, and of goodwill. Now, I ask you,
what is goodwill? What is it? Under our scheme you would at once
become a millionaire in actual fact.'
'Decidedly an inviting prospect,' said Hugo.
He walked about the room.
'Then I may take it that you are at any rate prepared to negotiate?' the
lawyer ventured, staring at the fountain.
'Mr. Polycarp,' answered Hugo, 'I must first give you a little
information and ask you a few questions.'
'Certainly.'
Hugo halted in front of Polycarp, close to him, and, lighting a cigar,
gazed down at the frigid lawyer.
'Till the age of twenty-eight,' he began, 'I had no object in life. I was
educated at Oxford. I narrowly escaped the legal profession. I had a
near shave of the Church. I wasted years in aimless travel, waiting for
destiny to turn up. I was conscious of no gift except a power for
organizing. That gift I felt I had, and gradually I perceived that I would
like to be the head of some large and complicated undertaking. I
examined the latest developments of modern existence, and came to the
conclusion that the direction of a thoroughly up-to-date stores would
amuse me as well as anything. So I bought this concern--a flourishing
little drapery and furnishing business it was then. I had exactly fifty
thousand pounds--not a cent more. I paid twenty-five thousand for the
business. It was too much, but when an idea takes me it takes me. I
required a fine-sounding name, and I chose Hugo. It was an
inspiration.'
'Then Hugo is not your--'
'It is not. My real name is Owen. But think of "Owen" on a flag, and

then think of "Hugo" on a flag.'
'Exactly.'
'I began. And because I had everything to learn I lost money at first. I
took lessons in my own shop, and the course cost me a hundred a week
for some months. But in two years I had proved that my theory of
myself was correct. In ten I had made nearly a quarter of a million.
Everyone knows the history of my growth.'
Polycarp nodded.
'In the eleventh year I determined to emerge from the chrysalis. I
dreamed a dream of my second incarnation as universal tradesman.
And the fabric of my dream, Mr. Polycarp, you behold around you.' He
waved the cigar. 'It is the most colossal thing of its kind ever known.'
Polycarp nodded again.
'Some people regard it as extravagant. It is. It is meant to be. Hugo's
store is only my fun, my device for amusing myself. We have glorious
times here, I and my ten managers--my Council of Ten. They know me;
I know them. They are well paid; they are artists. A trade spirit must, of
course, actuate a trade concern; but above that, controlling that, is
another spirit--the spirit which has made this undoubtedly the greatest
shop in the world. I cannot describe it, but it exists. All my managers,
and even many of the rank and file, feel it.'
'Very interesting,' said the lawyer.
'Mr. Polycarp,' Hugo announced solemnly, 'the direction of this
establishment is my life. In the midst of