"Oh--er--Sainsbury. I'm rather sorry to call you in, but the directors have decided that as you are of military age they are compelled, from patriotic motives, to suggest to you that you should join the army, as so many of the staff here have done. Don't you think it is your duty?" Jack Sainsbury looked the manager straight in the face. "Yes," he said, with a curious smile. "I quite agree. It certainly is my duty to resign and take my part in the defence of the country. But," he added, "I think it is somewhat curious that the directors have taken this step--to ask me to resign." Charlesworth, an estimable man, and beloved by the whole of the staff of the company at home and abroad, hesitated a moment, and then replied: "Unfortunately I am only here to carry out the orders of the directors, Sainsbury. You have been a most reliable and trusted servant of the company, and I shall be only too pleased to write you a good testimonial. You will have half-pay during the time you are absent, of course, as the others have." "Well, if I leave the Ochrida Copper Corporation, as the directors have practically dismissed me, I require no half-pay--nothing whatever," he answered, with a grim smile. "I part from you and from the company, Mr Charlesworth, with the very kindest and most cordial recollections; but I wish you, please, to give my compliments to the directors and say that, as they wish me to leave and act in the interests of my country, I shall do so, refusing to accept the half of my salary which they, in their patriotism, have so generously offered me." Charlesworth was a little puzzled by this speech. It was unexpected. The steady, hardworking clerk, who had been so reliable, and whom he had greatly esteemed, might easily have met his suggestion with resentment. Indeed, he had expected him to do so. But, on the contrary, Sainsbury seemed even eager to retire from the service of the company. Charlesworth was, of course, ignorant of the conditions of Dr Jerrold's will, or of those words Jack Sainsbury had overheard as he had entered the boardroom. Vernon Charlesworth had been a servant of the Ochrida Copper Corporation ever since its formation eighteen years ago--long before the "new blood" represented by the Huntley-Rodwell combination had been "brought into" it. From the first inception of the company the public, who had put their modest savings into it, had lost their money. Yet recently, by the bombastic and optimistic speeches of Sir Boyle Huntley at the Cannon Street Hotel, and the self-complacent smiles of Lewin Rodwell at the meetings, confidence had been inspired, and it was still a going concern--one which, if the truth be told, Huntley and Rodwell were working to get into their own hands. "Of course I am really very sorry to part with you, Sainsbury," the manager said, leaning back in his chair and looking at him. "You've been a most trustworthy servant, yet I, of course, have to abide by the decision of the board."