56 ANGEL PAVEMENT

many other people of her acquaintance. On this objec-
tionable man it had no effect at all. He stared hard at
her, and then smiled, or rather grinned broadly. De-
feated by such complete insensitiveness, Miss Matfield
made a gesture of annoyance, and then went on with
her work, without looking up again.

"Now what the devil's that boy doing in there!" Mr.
Golspie boomed to Turgis. "You'd better go and see if
they've killed him. You needn't, though. He's coming."

He came, followed by Mr. Smeeth, who said: "I'm
sorry you've been kept waiting. Mr, Dersingham can
see you now."

They waited until they heard the door close behind
him before any of them spoke again.

"What does he want, Mr. Smeeth?" asked Turgis.

"I don't know what he wants exactly, Turgis/' Mr.
Smeeth replied. "I take it he wants to sell us some stuff.
He sent some good samples in, really first-class Mr.
Dersingham and Goath said it was. I don't pretend to
know much about it. But I expect the price will put
it out of the question."

"He's a funny sort of chap, isn't he?"

"A loathsome brute!" cried Miss Matfield from her
machine. "Imagine working for a man like that!
Ghastly!"

Mr, Smeeth regarded her thoughtfully, and then, after
telling Stanley to get on with his work and if he hadn't
any work to go and find some, he turned to regard Turgis
equally thoughtfully. One of them had to go. Should
he put it to them now? Miss Matfield would probably
not care very much—it was hard to imagine her caring,
though she had been anxious enough to get the job—
whereas Turgis, who had an oldish poverty-stricken