No other two cinemas
in the Five Towns, it was reported, consumed together as much current
as the Imperial de Luxe; and nobody could deny that the degree of
excellence of a cinema is finally settled by its consumption of
electricity.
Rachel now understood better the symbolic meaning of the glare in
the sky caused at night by the determination of the Imperial to make
itself known. She had been brought up to believe that, gas being
dear, no opportunity should be lost of turning a jet down, and that
electricity was so dear as to be inconceivable in any house not
inhabited by crass spendthrift folly. She now saw electricity
scattered about as though it were as cheap as salt. She saw written in
electric fire across the inner entrance the beautiful sentiment, "Our
aim is to please YOU." The "you" had two lines of fire under it.
She saw, also, the polite nod of the official, dressed not less
glitteringly than an Admiral of the Fleet in full uniform, whose sole
duty in life was to welcome and reassure the visitor. All this in
Bursley, which even by Knype was deemed an out-of-the-world spot and
home of sordid decay! In Hanbridge she would have been less surprised
to discover such marvels, because the flaunting modernity of Hanbridge
was notorious.
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