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Miss Cayley's adventures (1899) by Grant Allen
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_MISS CAYLEY'S ADVENTURES_ (1899), ch. 4

by Grant Allen

published by Grant Richards

IV

THE ADVENTURE OF THE AMATEUR COMMISSION AGENT

MY eccentric American had assured me that if I won
the great race for him I need not be 'skeert' lest
he should fail to treat me well; and to do him
justice, I must admit that he kept his word
magnanimously. While we sat at lunch in the cosy
hotel at Limburg he counted out and paid me in hand
the fifty good gold pieces he had promised me
'Whether these Deutschers fork out my twenty
thousand marks or not,' he said, in his brisk way,
'it don't much matter. I shall get the contract,
and I shall hev gotten the advertizement!'

'Why do you start your bicycles in Germany,
though?' I asked, innocently. 'I should have
thought myself there was so much a better chance of
selling them in England.' He closed one eye, and
looked abstractedly at the light through his glass
of pale yellow Brauneberger with the other.
'England? Yes, England! Well, see, miss, you hev
not been raised in business. Business is business.
The way to do it in Germany is--to manufacture for
yourself: and I've got my works started right here
in Frankfort. The way to do it in England--where
capital's dirt cheap--is, to sell your patent for
every cent it's worth to an English company, and
let them boom or bust on it.'

'I see,' I said, catching at it. 'The
principle's as clear as mud, the moment you point
it out to one. An English company will pay you
well for the concession, and work for a smaller
return on its investment than you Americans are
content to receive on your capital!'