his way through the bustle of Gracechurch Street, Lewin Rodwell, who had been upstairs at a meeting of the board, descended and entered Charlesworth's room, closing the door after him. "Well," he asked carelessly, after chatting upon several important business matters, "have you spoken yet to young Sainsbury?" "Yes. And he's gone." Lewin Rodwell drew a sigh of relief. "He ought to enlist--a smart, athletic fellow like that! Such men are just what England wants to-day, Charlesworth. I hope you gave him a good hint--eh?" "I did. But it seems that he has already endeavoured to enlist, but was rejected--a defective arm." Lewin Rodwell was silent--but only for a few seconds. "Well, never mind; he's gone. We must reduce the staff--it is quite imperative in these days. What about those six others? Staff reduction will mean increased profits, you know." "They all have notice. I'm sorry about Carew. He has an invalid wife and seven children. His salary is only two pounds fifteen." "I'm afraid we can't help that, Charlesworth," replied the man who posed in the West End as the great self-denying patriot who hobnobbed with Cabinet Ministers. "We must reduce the staff, if we're going to pay a dividend. He'll get work--munition-making or something. Sentiment is out of place in these war-days." And yet, only two days before, the speaker had made a brilliant speech at a Mansion House meeting in which he had beaten the patriotic drum loudly, and appealed to all employers of labour to increase wages because of the serious rise in food-prices. Charlesworth knew this, but made no remark. It was not to his interest to thwart the great Lewin Rodwell, or his place-seeking sycophant Sir Boyle Huntley, who had been put by his friend into the position he now held. Truly the City is a strange, complex world of unpatriotic, hard-hearted money-seeking--a world where the Anglo-German or the swindling financier waxes rich quickly, and where the God-fearing Englishman goes to a Rowton House ousted by the "peaceful penetration" of our "dear kind friends" the Germans. Those who have known the City for the past ten years or so know full well--ay, they know, alas! too well--the way in which Germany has prepared us for the financial
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