ESS. Well, I've been five years in America. It colours a man's
notions.

SCANTLEBURY. [Suddenly, as though avenging his uncompleted grunt.]
Let's have the men in and hear what they've got to say!

[ANTHONY nods, and UNDERWOOD goes out by the single door.]

HARNESS. [Drily.] As I'm to have an interview with them this
afternoon, gentlemen, I 'll ask you to postpone your final decision
till that's over.

[Again ANTHONY nods, and taking up his glass drinks.]

[UNDERWOOD 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 h