“I can’t waste time over a man who can only interrupt: I address myself to you. First, let me put my friend Spanswick right on a small detail. He urged that we should work quietly and secretly”—(cheers from Spanswick’s supporters)—“I disagree! I fail to see the usefulness of that. I think that all we do should be fair and above board, and I say this because if you combine, and let the railway companies see that you are combining, you will be treated with greater respect. See what’s happened in the case of my own late fellow carmen! It’s true I was sacrificed, but let that pass; see what advantages they got, just for the asking. They got—”
Payne’s watch must have been suddenly affected, for he allowed Erb to speak for more than the period of ten minutes; no one complained; they were all too much interested. When Erb, in a fiery peroration, appealed to them to extend the recent action and make it general, with a strong reference to individualism, which they did not understand, and about which Erb himself was not quite sure, then the supporters of Spanswick forgot their reticence and cheered with the rest.
“And I trust,” added Erb modestly and finally, “that I ’aven’t took up too much of your time.”
The resolution was carried.
“Now,” said the Chair, “if any of you thought of standing me a drink, or even of ’aving one yourself, p’raps you’ll seize the opportunity whilst the waiters are in the room, and then we can shut them out whilst we go on to the next bisness.”
“Erb!” cried Spanswick along the table, “what’s yours?”
It was felt that this was a great piece of strategy on Spanswick’s part, and Erb’s refusal counted nothing for righteousness; one or two of Erb’s supporters shook their heads to intimate that this was not diplomacy. The waiters brought in japanned trays of glasses on their high, outstretched palms, carrying change everywhere, in their pockets, in their tweed caps, in a knot in their handkerchiefs, in their mouths. They completed their work in a few minutes and went, obeying leisurely the Chairman’s imperious wave of the hammer.
“We come, now,” said Payne loudly, “to what I venture to term the principal item on the agender. That is, the appointment of seceretary.” Both Erb and Spanswick showed signs of puzzled astonishment. “There’s no less than two suggestions that have been ’anded up: one is that we should ’ave a honery seceretary, which I may explain for the benefit of some, means one who will perform his services in a honery way: the other is that we should ’ave a paid seceretary, which means that we should have to plank down about a ’undred a year, otherwise, two quid a week, and that’d cover his slight travelling expenses. There’s a good deal,” added the Chair impartially, “to be said on both sides, and, at this stage of the proceedings, I don’t attempt to dictate. This room’s a bit warmish, and if you don’t mind me taking off my coat, why, I shall be more comfortable than what I am at the present moment.”
The men around the table imitated example, and, hanging their jackets on the backs of the chairs, addressed themselves to the new subject.
“What?” said the Chair. “You woke up again?”