I only saw in the agent’s request a very natural desire to defend his employer’s interests; and I drew this conclusion from it: if the agreement was advantageous for the manager, it must be equally so for me, as we were to share the receipts. I consented to the clause, and affixed my signature. The agent could not repress his satisfaction, but he cleverly ascribed it to the interest he felt in me. “I congratulate you sincerely on the engagement you have just made,” he said, as he offered me his hand; “you will soon be able to tell me of the results you will draw from it. By the way,” he added, in a friendly tone, after a pause, “will you now permit me to give you a piece of advice?” “Certainly, sir--certainly.” “I would recommend you, then, to take a collection of showy bills and posters with you to Belgium. They do not know how to get them up in Brussels, and they will produce a prodigious effect. It would be also as well to have a handsome lithograph, representing your stage; it can be put up in the various picture-shops, and you will obtain increased publicity.” These counsels, and the familiar, almost protecting, tone in which they were given, appeared to me strange; and I could not refrain from expressing my surprise to the man of business. “What need of all these precautions? I fancied I understood you that----“ “Good gracious me! all professionals are alike,” the giver of advice interrupted me; “absorbed in their art, they understand nothing of business. But tell me, Monsieur Robert-Houdin, would you feel annoyed at netting one hundred and fifty thousand francs, instead of the one hundred thousand I promised you?” “On my word, no,” I said, with a smile; “and I confess that, far from feeling vexed, I should be very pleased at it.” “Well, then, the more you make yourself known, the more you will add to the amount I stated.” “But I thought that notoriety was generally the business of managers.” “Certainly, ordinary publicity, but not extraordinary. You must see that is unlikely, as it will be all for your advantage.” Though little conversant with business, as the agent had just remarked, I saw that his arguments were not always in accordance with logic. However, I consented to the posters and the lithograph, in consideration of the promised results. “That is right,” the agent said, his familiarity sensibly increasing since the signature of the contract--“that is right: that is what I call managing things properly.” And my man left me, after complimenting me once more on the arrangement I had made.