y
he must tell them more'.... To whom, for instance, had the proposal
first been made? To him!--the chairman said. Good! But why were Pillins
selling, if freights were to go up, as they were told?

"Matter of opinion."

"Quite so; and in my opinion they are going lower, and Pillins were right
to sell. It follows that we are wrong to buy." ("Hear, hear!" "No,
no!") "Pillins are shrewd people. What does the chairman say? Nerves!
Does he mean to tell us that this sale was the result of nerves?"

The chairman nodded.

"That appears to me a somewhat fantastic theory; but I will leave that
and confine myself to asking the grounds on which the chairman bases his
confidence; in fact, what it is which is actuating the Board in pressing
on us at such a time what I have no hesitation in stigmatising as a rash
proposal. In a word, I want light as well as leading in this matter."

Mr. Westgate sat down.

What would the chairman do now? The situation was distinctly
awkward--seeing his helplessness and the lukewarmness of the Board behind
him. And the secretary felt more strongly than ever the absurdity of his
being an underling, he who in a few well-chosen words could so easily
have twisted the meeting round his thumb. Suddenly he heard the long,
rumbling sigh which preluded the chairman's speeches.

"Has any other gentleman anything to say before I move the adoption of
the report?"

Phew! That would put their backs up. Yes, sure enough it had brought
that fellow, who had said he might as well go home, to his feet! Now for
something nasty!

"Mr. Westgate requires answering. I don't like this business. I don't
impute anything to anybody; but it looks to me as if there were something
behind it which the shareholders ought to be told. Not only that; but,
to speak frankly, I'm not satisfied to be ridden over roughshod in this
fashion by one who, whatever he may have been in the past, is obviously
not now in the prime of his faculties."

With a gasp the secretary thought: 'I knew that was a plain-spoken man!'

He heard again the rumbling beside him. The chairman had gone crimson,
his mouth was pursed, his little eyes were very blue.

"Help me up," he said.

The secretary helped him, and waited, rather breathless.

The chairman took a sip of water, and his voice, unexpectedly loud, broke
an ominous hush:

"Never been so insulted in my life. My best services have been at your
disposal for nineteen years