ems to be the A B C of commerce,
sir; and the A B C of commerce is between your interests and the
men's.

SCANTLEBURY. [Whispering.] We ought to arrange something.

HARNESS. [Drily.] Am I to understand then, gentlemen, that your
Board is going to make no concessions?

[WANKLIN and WILDER bend forward as if to speak, but stop.]

ANTHONY. [Nodding.] None.

[WANKLIN and WILDER again bend forward, and SCANTLEBURY gives an
unexpected grunt.]

HARNESS. You were about to say something, I believe?

[But SCANTLEBURY says nothing.]

EDGAR. [Looking up suddenly.] We're sorry for the state of the men.

HARNESS. [Icily.] The men have no use for your pity, sir. What
they want is justice.

ANTHONY. Then let them be just.

HARNESS. For that word "just" read "humble," Mr. Anthony. Why
should they be humble? Barring the accident of money, are n't they
as good men as you?

ANTHONY. Cant!

HARNESS. 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, ROU