[_Putting down the report with a slight sigh of relief._] Ah! GEORGE WINTER. The mine was practically worked out when we bought it. There’s no gold there worth speaking of. We’ve been done in the eye, and we’re eighty thousand pounds to the bad. [_There is a moment’s pause._ ETCHINGHAM _looks at_ GEORGE WINTER _blankly_. BENNETT _glances nervously from one to the other_. ETCHINGHAM. [_Hardly able to speak, his tongue sticking to his throat._] You’re--you’re joking! GEORGE WINTER. Read the report. ETCHINGHAM. [_Looking at it helplessly._] Then.... GEORGE WINTER. Your fortune is beginning to look rather silly, isn’t it? So’s mine. ETCHINGHAM. Is this true, Mr. Bennett? BENNETT. I’m afraid it is, my lord. ETCHINGHAM. My God! What’s to be done now? GEORGE WINTER. What do you think ought to be done? ETCHINGHAM. I? GEORGE WINTER. You’re chairman of the Syndicate. Your opinion can’t fail to be valuable. ETCHINGHAM. [_Hesitatingly._] We must just pocket our loss. GEORGE WINTER. H’m! BENNETT. With things in their present state a loss like that is about as much as we can stand. ETCHINGHAM. The slump must come to an end soon. GEORGE WINTER. We’ve been saying that for the last two months. ETCHINGHAM. Then what the deuce is to be done? GEORGE WINTER. That’s what we’re asking you. BENNETT. We’ve got the Lewishams to reckon with. GEORGE WINTER. Now’s their time to make a raid on us. ETCHINGHAM. [_Hoarsely._] It doesn’t mean that we smash up, George? GEORGE WINTER. [_Taking out his watch._] Boyce will be here in a quarter of an hour. ETCHINGHAM. George, don’t play the fool now. I’ve put all my eggs in this basket. I thought I was going to be rich at last. I wanted to get out of the whole thing. I wanted to live quietly and comfortably. BENNETT. What are you going to do, Governor? GEORGE WINTER. [_Looking at_ ETCHINGHAM.] Suppress the report. [BENNETT _gives a start, but does not speak_. GEORGE WINTER. Go ahead as if we believed in the mine. We’ve got the Government expert’s report on which we bought the thing. We’ll put that in the prospectus. ETCHINGHAM. But isn’t that dishonest? GEORGE WINTER. Very. ETCHINGHAM. George! GEORGE WINTER. It’s an axiom in mining circles that when you’ve got hold of a rotten thing the proper course is to pass it on to the British public. ETCHINGHAM. The public will find out there’s no gold there when you pay no dividends. GEORGE WINTER. Oh, we’ll pay dividends for a year or two. By then we shall have turned the corner, and we’ll find another carrot for the British public. ETCHINGHAM. But you say yourself it’s dishonest. GEORGE WINTER. There’s another point you seem to have forgotten. ETCHINGHAM. What is that? [GEORGE WINTER _pauses and looks at him for an instant reflectively_. GEORGE WINTER. We paid for the mine with money that didn’t belong to us. ETCHINGHAM. What d’you mean? GEORGE WINTER.