Well, I see my duty before me. I didn’t know, but now there can be no excuse for me. I must go to Scotland Yard at once. I shall make a clean breast of the whole thing. GEORGE WINTER. D’you think that’ll help you? It may mean five years instead of seven. ETCHINGHAM. Every one will know that I’m incapable of such an act. GEORGE WINTER. Don’t be a silly fool. Listen to me. We’ve got you tight. If we go under, you go under too. Let there be no doubt in your mind about that. ETCHINGHAM. I must do my duty. GEORGE WINTER. Your duty is to keep your head and help us out of the mess as best you can. ETCHINGHAM. But nothing can be done. The mine’s worthless. How are we to raise eighty thousand pounds? GEORGE WINTER. We’ve got six weeks before we need replace the bonds. If we can do it by then no one will ever know they’ve left the cellars of the bank. ETCHINGHAM. There’s no more chance of replacing them in six weeks than there is the day after to-morrow. GEORGE WINTER. Yes, there is, if we can float the company. That’s where you come in. I’ve got to keep my seat. I want all my prestige. I can’t have a divorce. You must go to Kate at once, and tell her that the only way she can save you from prison is by telling these men who are coming from Middlepool that she has no cause for complaint against me. ETCHINGHAM. Good God! I’d forgotten Kate. BENNETT. It’s only by going on now that we can save ourselves and the money that’s invested in our companies. ETCHINGHAM. [_Irritably._] You wouldn’t have got into such a mess with Kate if you hadn’t made such a damned fool of yourself. Why couldn’t you leave these women alone? GEORGE WINTER. [_With a chuckle._] My dear fellow, you speak as if I were to blame. They simply flung themselves into my arms. It would have been very rude if I hadn’t occasionally pressed them to my bosom. BENNETT. It’s not much the Governor asks you, my lord. ETCHINGHAM. To go and tell my daughter that I’m a thief and a swindler, and throw myself on her mercy! GEORGE WINTER. That’s it. ETCHINGHAM. I’ll see you damned first! GEORGE WINTER. The alternative is prison.... It’s not very nice, penal servitude--is it, Fred? You know all about it. You can tell him. BENNETT. [_With a gasp._] Governor! ETCHINGHAM. What does he mean? GEORGE WINTER. Fred’s a solicitor who was struck off the rolls. He was sentenced to three years for misappropriating a client’s money. ETCHINGHAM. Good God! Is that true, Mr. Bennett? BENNETT. [_Ashamed._] Yes, my lord. ETCHINGHAM. I never knew. GEORGE WINTER. Of course you didn’t. It’s not the kind of thing you’d expect him to brag about, is it? But it’ll go worse with him if we’re found out, because he’s been at it before. Tell him what it’s like, Fred. BENNETT. [_With agony._] Oh, Governor, don’t! GEORGE WINTER.