THEY ARRIVE ' 43

I shall want that. Anything come this morning? It
doesn't matter, though; you can tell me later."

"And if I know anything/' Mr. Goath mumbled,
when the head of Mr. Dersingham had been withdrawn,
"that won't take you long, Smeeth-telling how much
you've ,got in this morning."

"It won't/' said Mr. Smeeth cheerlessly.

SEATED at his table, looking through the morning's
letters, as he was now, Howard Bromport Dersingham
might have been accepted as a typical specimen of the
smart younger City man. At a first glance, he seemed
the brother of all those smart younger City men who
figure in advertisements, wearing unique collars, ties,
suits, examining the infallible watch, or looking at a
vision of less successful men who have never taken the
particular correspondence course. He looked much too
good for Angel Pavement, where business is merely
business and a rather haphazard and dusty affair at that.
He would not have seemed out of place in one of those
skyscrapers filled with terrifically efficient and success-
ful operatives and administratives, in those regions
where business is not at all a haphazard and dusty affair
and takes on a solemn air, even a mystical tinge, as if it
really explained the universe. It appeared absurd that
such a fellow and all his concerns should be sandwiched
between the Kwik-Work Razor Blade Co. and the
London and Counties Supply Stores.

Another glance or two, however, would reveal the
fact that he was only a rough, weakly unfinished sketch