Barry Pain

“ In that case the half-profit system was, from Mr. Boys' point of view, contra-indicated; it was only good in those cases where there was no possibility of a profit. Without actually making up his mind what he would do, Mr. Boys wrote a letter to Miss Lucia Dane, suggesting that if she were ever in London she should call at the office with reference to her book; it would be more easy to arrange matters at an interview than by letter. The fact is that Mr. Boys had been a good deal interested in the book himself, and was rather curious to see the author. He signed the letter Edmund Bashlove. ”

“ Boys fell off in consequence. Messrs. Parsley, Bashlove and Williams replied in the public prints that the attack in the Lynx was based on information supplied by a discharged servant. They challenged the Lynx to contradict this statement, and promised that if this were done they would treat the Lynx to a libel action. If the Lynx would not do this, it had merely produced an additional reason why it should be treated with contempt, and Messrs. Parsley, Bashlove and Williams were not inclined to waste powder and shot upon it or to give it a gratuitous advertisement. ”

“ Boys—it is rather an insufficient revenge to treat that man with coldness the next time you meet him. Mr. Boys was much pained; these attacks were so unjust. It was, for instance, absolutely untrue to say that he had never paid an author a penny. Once he had paid an author ten pounds; for that sum he had purchased the copyright of Miss Lucia Dane's novel, "Beyond." It had only happened once, and it was not worth while to mention it; ten pounds is not a quixotically generous price to pay for the copyright of a long novel ”

“ Boys, who was not only the entire firm, but the large staff of expert readers as well, thought highly of this advertisement. The young and unpublished author found his vanity gently tickled by this appeal to "New Talent." These publishers evidently knew their business and did not want to have anything to do with the men who had written themselves out. The request for poems and sermons must, one would think, have surprised even the youngest and least published of authors. But there it was, clearly printed in the advertisement ”

“ Boys) would report to the publishers (who were also Mr. Boys) that the publication would be attended with considerable risk, owing to the daring originality of the work. Under these circumstances, Mr. Boys did not feel himself justified in accepting the book, but would be pleased to publish it on terms which he called facetiously a half-profit system. The details of this system need not be given here. In the hands of Mr. Boys it meant that the author paid Mr. Boys three times the proper price for something which in the end he never got. ”

“ Boys showed a want of originality; his furniture and stock were insured, and he decided to have a fire. The fire broke out in the room at the back where the manuscripts were kept; but it was detected before it had done any very considerable damage. Mr. Boys, who had engineered that fire, was not detected, but he became an object of suspicion. the insurance company never disputed a claim if they could possibly help it, but they offered Mr. Boys one quarter of the sum that he demanded ”

“ I have here a banknote for fifty pounds. If you will accept that, and sign the document before you, there will be no questions."
After all, fifty pounds is a very fair price to get for not publishing a novel which you could not publish in any case. And Sir James had evidently mastered Mr. Bashlove's alias, and his solicitors might have other knowledge of an inconvenient nature.
So Mr. Boys smiled pleasantly, signed the paper, and put the banknote in his pocket. "I accept the fifty," he said, "and Miss Dane may consider that I have made her a present of the difference ”

“ There were better fish in the sea, and he had just had that beautiful and profitable idea which was to materialise as "Hampton's Electro-therapeutic Necklace."
His aim was now to come out of the business with as much in hand as possible; you cannot get your Electro-therapeutic Necklace on the public without spending a good deal in pushing and advertising. ”