Never!
Slowly, his fighting instinct asserted itself. Catastrophe of any kind overwhelmed him at first, and then his vitality, his recuperative qualities, would come to the rescue. He must fight this issue to the end. His dull anger and rancour passed. His active wits began to work. He felt oddly sensible of a certain exhilaration, the conviction that he would soar, like the Melchester spire, above these ignominies and disasters.
He stood up, inhaling deep breaths, smiling grimly.
"What are you going to do, Joe?"
"Watch on, and see."
He replaced the billet in its envelope, which had been left open. Then he crossed to the cabinet, and put the letter into the drawer where he had found it. He closed the doors of the cabinet, and came back to his desk. About all these actions there was an automatic precision, as if the man had been transformed into a machine.
Susan murmured:
"Joe, you frighten me."
"Wouldn't do that for the world, Susie." His voice was slightly less hard. "I'm going to frighten them. See?"
"How?"