We have
waited a long time, and we want to know definitely where we stand; for,
to be quite frank, we don't see any prospect of improvement; indeed, we
fear the opposite."
"You think I'm going to join the majority."
This plumping out of what was at the back of their minds produced in
Mr. Brownbee and his colleagues a sort of chemical disturbance. They
coughed, moved their feet, and turned away their eyes, till the one who
had not risen, a solicitor named Ventnor, said bluffly:
"Well, put it that way if you like."
Old Heythorp's little deep eyes twinkled.
"My grandfather lived to be a hundred; my father ninety-six--both of
them rips. I'm only eighty, gentlemen; blameless life compared with
theirs."
"Indeed," Mr. Brownbee said, "we hope you have many years of this life
before you."
"More of this than of another." And a silence fell, till old Heythorp
added: "You're getting a thousand a year out of my fees. Mistake to kill
the goose that lays the golden eggs. I'll make it twelve hundred. If you
force me to resign my directorships by bankruptcy, you won't get a rap,
you know."
Mr. Brownbee cleared his throat:
"We think, Mr. Heythorp, you should make it at least fifteen hundred.
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