Free Flames Coming out of the Top by Norman Collins Page B

circumstances.”
    Dunnett considered this point.
    â€œI should have thought that you might have managed to swallow your pride and pay up,” he remarked at length. “It would have been far simpler in the long run.”
    â€œTo some natures possibly, but not to mine,” Señor Muras repeated. “It is there that you do not understand us. An Englishman has many fine points. He can be honest, he can be conscientious, he can be faithful, he can be ambitious; very often he is all those things, and that is why he has become master of half the world. But there is one thing that an Englishman very rarely is—proud. With us, pride is a national quality. It is a Latin characteristic.”
    â€œIt’s not a very businesslike one,” Dunnett observed.
    â€œBusinesslike.” Señor Muras snapped his fingers in the air. “How I detest the word. Only the Englishmen uses it. It does not exist in other languages. It is the compliment of shopkeepers. In England to call a man businesslike is to pay him the highest tribute in the dictionary.” Señor Muras paused. “Forgive me,” he said, reaching out for Dunnett’s glass, “I had not noticed that it was empty.”
    â€œNo more during office hours,” Dunnett replied. “Don’t forget that I’ve got some work to do.”
    â€œThen I will send for my chief accountant,” Señor Muras answered. “I am only sorry that you should feel yourself unable to spend a few moments in conversation. You come all the way from London and you haven’t time to drink a gin-fizz.” Señor Muras stretched out his hand and rang a bell that stood on the table beside him: it was a small, silver bell which produced a silly tinkle when he shook it.
    â€œBut I’ve just had a gin-fizz,” Dunnett pointed out.
    Señor Muras turned to him. “Forgive me,” he said, “if I seem rude and overbearing, but as I said just now I am an older man and I can speak to you without offence. If you hadbeen of my own age, no doubt we should have quarrelled. As it is, I can talk quite freely. I can even give you advice: above all things, cultivate elasticity of mind; it is esssential to the proper enjoyment of life. Because you are not accustomed to drinking in the middle of the morning at home do not conclude that it would necessarily be wrong to take a light drink in Amricante.”
    â€œBut how can I be expected to keep a clear head for figures if I go on drinking?” Dunnett asked.
    â€œHave you ever tried to handle figures in this temperature?” Señor Muras replied. “Believe me, national habits are not acquired without some good reason. Moreover, you are here as the representative of a great firm. Your first visit is naturally a ceremonial one to me. To drink with me would be to show our mutual respect.”
    â€œIf you put it in that way,” Dunnett replied, “I must accept.” As he said it, he tried to persuade himself that it was more subtle not to go on refusing. He did not want Señor Muras to think that he was a man unaccustomed to a little simple drinking.
    Señor Muras smiled. “That is better,” he answered. “We’re civilising you already.” He mixed Dunnett a drink and passed it over to him with a little effusive flourish. Then he turned to the servant who had come in and was standing politely beside the table. “Present my compliments to Señor Olivares and inform him that I have a distinguished visitor whom I wish him to meet.” He turned back to Dunnett with an apologetic smile. “If only the office in London could have understood,” he continued. “Then everything would have been so simple. For me business is only a means to life. But to Mr. Govern, business is life itself. That is what is wrong with the age we live in.”
    â€œBut to get back to what we were saying,” Dunnett interrupted, “do you