Once more I bowed low, taking care to sweep the floor with the palm of my hand.
"And I," testified the second First Class man, also through a megaphone, "am one of the seventeen Political Settlers of the Ventilation Company."
"Political Settlers?" I questioned, again performing a perfunctory bow.
"Yes, indeed!" stated the man, looking a little offended at my ignorance. "Very important work we do, too! It is our business to settle things with politicians and political job-sellers."
"And I, sir," the third of my First Class visitors informed me with a blare of his megaphone, "am the Senatorial Representative of the Ventilation Company."
"Senatorial Representative?"—after another bow.
"Of course! I am the delegate elected by the Ventilation Company, in accordance with law, to represent its interests in the Senate. Don't you know, sir, that every concern doing a business of more than eleven millions annually is expected to have a representative in the Senate?"
Knowing nothing of this matter, I thought it best to change the subject. "And to what, gentlemen," I inquired, "do I owe the honor of this visit?"
It was the thirteenth Vice-Executive Director that undertook to reply.
"You may well ask that question, sir. Not once in ten thousand wakes is a Third Class citizen, such as you appear to be, flattered with a visit from the First Class. But your case, sir, is exceptional. Owing to your unusual services on behalf of the anti-strikers, we have been appointed by the Directors of the Ventilation Company as a committee of three to express our personal approval and appreciation."