Grove began to read from a cluster of typed sheets. Ponderous phrases, heavy with the special terminology, the many-syllabled terms in which commerce and finance wraps its meaning when it seeks formal expression. Phrasing as difficult to the uninitiate as 'The Critique of Pure Reason' is to the average freshman. Fundings, refundings, liquid assets, unrealizable commitments, debit and credit balances, mingled with references to the European situation, the New York situation, exchange, debentures, interminable strings of figures. It created a hopeless confusion in Rod's mind. There was so much language and so many figures. It was not a living, colorful language such as he cared for, such as could move him by its subtlety or vigor. He gave over trying to follow Grove through the maze and watched the faces of these men of affairs. Evidently it was clear enough to them. He observed slight liftings of eyebrows, communicative glances, fixed unwavering attention, comprehending nods. But their faces remained Sphinxlike. Grove finished. He leaned back in his chair. For a moment his guard dropped. "There it is," he snarled at them. A short, full-bodied man at the lower end of the table said in a pained tone: "There is really nothing in that statement that we don't know, that we haven't discussed. As a result of mismanagement and unfortunate circumstances, the Norquay Trust Company is insolvent. The question is, what are we, the board of directors, going to do about it?" "Liquidate--liquidate, I say," rumbled a man whom Rod recognized as the head of a well-known wholesale firm, a well-known man about town,--a gentleman with a taste for old, very old Scotch whisky, and a penchant for young, very young women. "Liquidate and be done with it," he repeated ponderously. "How are you going to liquidate a two-million-dollar liability with assets of a million or less?" Arthur Deane inquired in his cold, precise voice. An old man across the table, with horn-rimmed glasses low on the bridge of his nose, leaned forward. "Is it as bad as that?" he inquired indifferently. "I wasn't sure." "A careful analysis of the statement shows about that," Deane answered. "We've got to get out from under, that's all," Bartley Richston broke into speech for the first time. He was quite unmoved, matter of fact. "No use blinking facts. As a going concern the Norquay Trust is on its last legs. How long," he demanded of Grove, "can you carry on as you are? Suppose it got about that you're shaky and all these four per cent, depositors demand their money? How long would you last?" "About half a day," Grove answered sullenly. "We can't stand a run. Damn it, you know that, Richston. I've told you a dozen times in the last month." "Then a receivership is the only solution. A receivership and a winding-up." Grove sprang to his feet.