SCANTLEBURY. Hear, hear—hear, hear!
WILDER. [Lashing himself.] If any one expects me to say to them I've lost you fifty thousand pounds and sooner than put my pride in my pocket I'll lose you another. [Glancing at ANTHONY.] It's—it's unnatural! I don't want to go against you, sir.
WANKLIN. [Persuasively.] Come Chairman, we 're not free agents. We're part of a machine. Our only business is to see the Company earns as much profit as it safely can. If you blame me for want of principle: I say that we're Trustees. Reason tells us we shall never get back in the saving of wages what we shall lose if we continue this struggle—really, Chairman, we must bring it to an end, on the best terms we can make.
ANTHONY. No.
[There is a pause of general dismay.]
WILDER. It's a deadlock then. [Letting his hands drop with a sort of despair.] Now I shall never get off to Spain!
WANKLIN. [Retaining a trace of irony.] You hear the consequences of your victory, Chairman?
WILDER. [With a burst of feeling.] My wife's ill!
SCANTLEBURY. Dear, dear! You don't say so.
WILDER. If I don't get her out of this cold, I won't answer for the consequences.