OOD comes in again, followed by ROBERTS, GREEN, BULGIN,
THOMAS, ROUS. They file in, hat in hand, and stand silent in a
row. ROBERTS is lean, of middle height, with a slight stoop.
He has a little rat-gnawn, brown-grey beard, moustaches, high
cheek-bones, hollow cheeks, small fiery eyes. He wears an old
and grease-stained blue serge suit, and carries an old bowler
hat. He stands nearest the Chairman. GREEN, next to him, has a
clean, worn face, with a small grey goatee beard and drooping
moustaches, iron spectacles, and mild, straightforward eyes. He
wears an overcoat, green with age, and a linen collar. Next to
him is BULGIN, a tall, strong man, with a dark moustache, and
fighting jaw, wearing a red muffler, who keeps changing his cap
from one hand to the other. Next to him is THOMAS, an old man
with a grey moustache, full beard, and weatherbeaten, bony face,
whose overcoat discloses a lean, plucked-looking neck. On his
right, ROUS, the youngest of the five, looks like a soldier; he
has a glitter in his eyes.]

UNDERWOOD. [Pointing.] There are some chairs there against the
wall, Roberts; won't you draw them up and sit down?

ROBERTS. Thank you, Mr. Underwood--we'll stand in the presence of
the Board. [He speaks in a biting and staccato voice, rolling his
r's, pronouncing his a's like an Italian a, and his consonants short
and crisp.] How are you, Mr. Harness? Did n't expect t' have the
pleasure of seeing you till this afternoon.

HARNESS. [Steadily.] We shall meet again then, Roberts.

ROBERTS. Glad to hear that; we shall have some news for you to take
to your people.

ANTHONY. What do the men want?

ROBERTS. [Acidly.] Beg pardon, I don't quite catch the Chairman's
remark.

TENCH. [From behind the Chairman's chair.] The Chairman wishes to
know what the men have to say.

ROBERTS. It's what the Board has to say we've come to hear. It's
for the Board to speak first.

ANTHONY. The Board has nothing to say.

ROBERTS. [Looking along the line of men.] In that case we're
wasting the Directors' time. We'll be taking our feet off this
pretty carpet.

[He turns, the men move slowly, as though hypnotically
influenced.]

WANKLIN: [Suavely.] Come, Roberts, you did n't give us this long
cold journey for the pleasure of saying that.

THOMAS. [A pure Welshman.] No, sir, an' what I say iss----

ROBE