ith Mr Fisker. Ask him. The telegraph wires are
open to you, sir. But, my Lords and Gentlemen, I am able to inform you
that in affairs of this nature great discretion is necessary. On
behalf of the shareholders at large whose interests are in our hands,
I think it expedient that any general statement should be postponed
for a short time, and I flatter myself that in that opinion I shall
carry the majority of this Board with me.' Mr Melmotte did not make
his speech very fluently; but, being accustomed to the place which he
occupied, he did manage to get the words spoken in such a way as to
make them intelligible to the company. 'I now move that this meeting
be adjourned to this day week,' he added.

'I second that motion,' said Lord Alfred, without moving his hand from
his breast.

'I understood that we were to have a statement,' said Montague.

'You've had a statement,' said Mr Cohenlupe.

'I will put my motion to the vote,' said the Chairman. 'I shall move
an amendment,' said Paul, determined that he would not be altogether
silenced.

'There is nobody to second it,' said Mr Cohenlupe.

'How do you know till I've made it?' asked the rebel. 'I shall ask
Lord Nidderdale to second it, and when he has heard it I think that
he will not refuse.'

'Oh, gracious me! why me? No;--don't ask me. I've got to go away. I have
indeed.'

'At any rate I claim the right of saying a few words. I do not say
whether every affair of this Company should or should not be published
to the world.'

'You'd break up everything if you did,' said Cohenlupe.

'Perhaps everything ought to be broken up. But I say nothing about
that. What I do say is this. That as we sit here as directors and will
be held to be responsible as such by the public, we ought to know what
is being done. We ought to know where the shares really are. I for one
do not even know what scrip has been issued.'

'You've bought and sold enough to know something about it,' said
Melmotte.

Paul Montague became very red in the face. 'I, at any rate, began,' he
said, 'by putting what was to me a large sum of money into the
affair.'

'That's more than I know,' said Melmotte. 'Whatever shares you have,
were issued at San Francisco, and not here.'

'I have taken nothing that I haven't paid for,' said Montague. 'Nor
have I yet had allotted to me anything like the number of shares which
my capital would represent. But I did not intend to speak of my own
concerns.'

'It l