Roberts.  Thank you, Mr. Underwood—­we’ll stand in the presence of the Board. [He speaks in a biting and staccato voice, rolling his r’s, pronouncing his a’s like an Italian a, and his consonants short and crisp.] How are you, Mr. Harness?  Did n’t expect t’ have the pleasure of seeing you till this afternoon.

Harness. [Steadily.] We shall meet again then, Roberts.

Roberts.  Glad to hear that; we shall have some news for you to take to your people.

Anthony.  What do the men want?

Roberts. [Acidly.] Beg pardon, I don’t quite catch the Chairman’s remark.

Tench. [From behind the Chairman’s chair.] The Chairman wishes to know what the men have to say.

Roberts.  It’s what the Board has to say we’ve come to hear.  It’s for the Board to speak first.

Anthony.  The Board has nothing to say.

Roberts. [Looking along the line of men.] In that case we’re wasting the Directors’ time.  We’ll be taking our feet off this pretty carpet.

     [He turns, the men move slowly, as though hypnotically
     influenced.]

Wanklin:  [Suavely.] Come, Roberts, you did n’t give us this long cold journey for the pleasure of saying that.

Thomas. [A pure Welshman.] No, sir, an’ what I say iss——­

Roberts.[Bitingly.] Go on, Henry Thomas, go on.  You ’re better able to speak to the—­Directors than me. [Thomas is silent.]

Tench.  The Chairman means, Roberts, that it was the men who asked for the conference, the Board wish to hear what they have to say.

Roberts.  Gad!  If I was to begin to tell ye all they have to say, I wouldn’t be finished to-day.  And there’d be some that’d wish they’d never left their London palaces.

Harness.  What’s your proposition, man?  Be reasonable.

Roberts.  You want reason Mr. Harness?  Take a look round this afternoon before the meeting. [He looks at the men; no sound escapes them.] You’ll see some very pretty scenery.

Harness.  All right my friend; you won’t put me off.

Roberts. [To the men.] We shan’t put Mr. Harness off.  Have some champagne with your lunch, Mr. Harness; you’ll want it, sir.

Harness.  Come, get to business, man!

Thomas.  What we’re asking, look you, is just simple justice.

Roberts. [Venomously.] Justice from London?  What are you talking about, Henry Thomas?  Have you gone silly? [Thomas is silent.] We know very well what we are—­discontented dogs—­never satisfied.  What did the Chairman tell me up in London?  That I did n’t know what I was talking about.  I was a foolish, uneducated man, that knew nothing of the wants of the men I spoke for,

Edgar.  Do please keep to the point.