[_Simultaneously._] My Lord, I wish he’d come. BENNETT. [_To_ JAMES FORD.] You don’t mean to say you think there’s anything in it? JAMES FORD. I’ve applied for ten thousand shares. You don’t suppose I like it when an article comes out in a financial paper on the day of issue that the mine’s practically worked out, and Winter’s expert has reported that the ore’s not worth the cost of crushing. BOYCE. Everybody who’s got a penny to spare in Middlepool has applied for shares. JAMES FORD. George Winter told me it was the biggest thing he’d ever had. BENNETT. He’s never let you down before. Why should he let you down now? JAMES FORD. I don’t say he’s let me down. But he told me to put my shirt on it, and ... I don’t want ten thousand worthless shares. BOYCE. The damnable thing is that it should happen on the day of the election. ETCHINGHAM. It would be monstrous if people didn’t vote for him because of an article in a London newspaper. BOYCE. You know what people are. They lose their heads. The seat has always been won and lost on the wobblers. JAMES FORD. Oh, the first thing is to win the seat. SWALECLIFFE. Well, we shan’t do that unless Mr. Winter comes at once and we make up our minds what to do. ETCHINGHAM. Ring up the Committee Rooms, Boyce, and ask if anything’s been heard of him. BOYCE. All right. I’ll do that. SWALECLIFFE. I was never so taken aback as when Boyce showed me the telephone message from London. ETCHINGHAM. When do the London papers get here, Mr. Ford? JAMES FORD. They ought to be here by half-past ten. BOYCE. [_Speaking into the receiver._] Put me on 78, will you? ETCHINGHAM. [_Simultaneously._] Why the devil don’t they bring them in? BENNETT. Don’t worry. I’ve told a waiter to bring them as soon as they arrive. BOYCE. [_At the telephone._] I say, is that you, Masters? Has Mr. Winter been there? Well, send Rogers. Here. No, here, confound you! The Palace. [_Putting down the receiver._] No, nothing’s been seen of him since early this morning. ETCHINGHAM. I wonder what the other side are going to do when they hear this. JAMES FORD. Oh, don’t you be afraid. They heard about the attack as soon as ever we did. BENNETT. You ought to have held the line and prevented them from getting on to London. BOYCE. Good God, one can’t think of everything at once. ETCHINGHAM. It seems to me the whole thing has been about as disgracefully mismanaged as it could be. BOYCE. If you’d ever tried to run an election you’d know it wasn’t so easy as all that. ETCHINGHAM. I’m not an election agent. It’s not my business. JAMES FORD. Come, come, gentlemen, it’s no good quarrelling about it. [_These three speeches are spoken at once._ SWALECLIFFE. How is the polling going on? BOYCE. Oh, I think we shall have the heaviest poll we’ve ever had. JAMES FORD. Of course there’ll be some slackening off just now. A lot of working men voted when the polling stations opened. BOYCE.