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 didn'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 didn'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.

 

ANTHONY. [Holding up his hand.] There can only be one master, Roberts.

 

ROBERTS. Then, be Gad, it'll be us.

 

[There is a silence; ANTHONY and ROBERTS stare at one another.]

 

UNDERWOOD. If you've nothing to say to the Directors, Roberts, perhaps you'll let Green or Thomas speak for the men.

 

[GREEN and THOMAS look anxiously at ROBERTS, at each other, and the other men.]

 

GREEN. [An Englishman.] If I'd been listened to, gentlemen—

 

THOMAS. What I'fe got to say iss what we'fe all got to say—

 

ROBERTS. Speak for yourself, Henry Thomas.

 

SCANTLEBURY.