The chairman and one or two leading spirits had followed Mutimer to the place of distinction, where they talked with him.
Punctuality was not much regarded at these meetings; the lecture was announced for eight, but rarely began before half-past The present being an occasion of exceptional interest, twenty minutes past the hour saw the chairman rise for his prefatory remarks.

He was a lank man of jovial countenance and jerky enunciation.

There was no need, he observed, to introduce a friend and comrade so well known to them as the lecturer of the evening.

'We're always glad to hear him, and to-night, if I may be allowed to 'int as much, we're _particularly_ glad to hear him.
Our friend and comrade is going to talk to us about the Land.

It's a question we can't talk or think too much about, and Comrade Mutimer has thought about it as much and more than any of us, I think I may say.
I don't know,' the chairman added, with a sly look across the room, 'whether our friend's got any new views on this subject of late.