(The setting is a reception, following the wedding of John Porter and Margaret Ashton Porter.)

SEFTON BRIGGS
I called in at the works on my way out this morning.

EDWIN ASHTON
Oh?

SEFTON
Just in passing...

EDWIN
Alan Mills would be in, wasn't he?

SEFTON
Aye, he was in. And I saw that fellow, Morgan, the one that made the trouble about the machine guard.

EDWIN
(frowning)
I wouldn't say he'd made trouble exactly.

SEFTON
Oh, you wouldn't, hey?
(to the barman, after accepting a few paltry coins in change)
Hey, uh, this is never right.

THE BARMAN
(referring to Philip, Tony, and Gwyn, who are seated near-by)
Uh, the other three were doubles, sir.

SEFTON
Caught again, Sefton!
(back to his discussion with Edwin)
You wouldn't call it making trouble to start shouting the odds about a new machine guard and then get the factory inspector in to force us to do what he wants? What do you call it, then? It's not exactly loyalty to his employers, is it?

EDWIN
We needed a new guard for that machine, Sefton. The inspector only made us do what we were too stubborn to do ourselves.

SEFTON
Say what you mean, Edwin. Don't spare my feelings. If anybody was stubborn, it was me because I wasn't going to be dictated to by any cocky, little workman.

EDWIN
If you want to look at it like that.

SEFTON
Yes, I do. I want him out, Edwin, and quick. One look at him, and I could tell what he was...a troublemaker.

EDWIN
Morgan's a good worker.

SEFTON
Oh, and the woods are full of them. Good workmen who are glad to work without making trouble for their employers. We can't afford to keep men like Morgan about the place. They’re a liability.

EDWIN
Well, if you're thinking about sacking a man, hadn’t you better have your manager in on it?

SEFTON
Tony can hear what I have to say.
(calling out to him)
Tony, come over here a minute, will you?

(Tony stands up and walks over to his father. Meanwhile, Philip wonders why his cousin was called away.)

PHILIP ASHTON
(to Gwyn)
What’s going on?

GWYN ROBERTS
(to Philip)
Haven't you been listening? Your Uncle Sefton's putting your dad on the spot.

(Tony joins the discussion between Edwin and Sefton.)

SEFTON
We’re talking about Morgan.

TONY BRIGGS
(confused)
Morgan?

SEFTON
The fellow that made the trouble over the new guard for the guillotine.

(Tony cannot quite place the name.)

EDWIN
A little, dark man with a slight limp...a general, semi-skilled chap.

TONY
Oh, yes, I’ve got him now.

SEFTON
Aye, we've got him...and we're going to get rid of him!

TONY
Oh...

SEFTON
Oh, I'm not asking you to sack him. If you do it, it'll tend to...we'll have union trouble. But they've known Edwin for a long time. They'll take it from him.

EDWIN
I'm not sure I can do this, Sefton.

SEFTON
Edwin, you're too damned soft. If you ran a corner grocery, you'd be bankrupt at the end of the month through giving credit to anybody who asked for it. You've got to be tough to run a business...realistic. It’s a hard world.

EDWIN
Morgan will know that by this time next week, won't he?

SEFTON
There are one and a quarter million on the dole. It affects us all, doesn't it?

GWYN
(interrupting)
That's why the system needs changing.

SEFTON
(shocked)
What did you say?

(Gwyn walks over to confront Sefton, and Philip follows him as a peacekeeper.)

GWYN
I said we need a new system, so that men like you won't have the power to ride roughshod over people.

SEFTON
I wasn't aware that this discussion involved you, young man.

PHILIP
(pulling his friend back)
Keep out of it, Gwyn. It's none of your business.

GWYN
Nah, it's everyone's business! I've drunk your sherry, Mr. Briggs, and now I'm drinking your whisky. But it chokes me...because you are, without a doubt, the most vindictive and objectionable man I've ever met.

SEFTON
Is he drunk or what?

GWYN
Don't worry. I'm going.
(to Edwin)
I'm sorry if I've abused your hospitality, Mr. Ashton, and embarrassed you. But for God's sake, why don't you try squaring your shoulders and spitting in that man's face?

(Gwyn storms out of the reception hall.)

PHILIP
(calling after him)
Gwyn!

(Edwin looks hurt, for he knows there was truth in what the "Welsh gas bag" had to say.)

 

(from "Lines of Battle" by Stan Barstow)