some of the traditions: the caller who intoned the brokers names like
the offertory in the temple of some exotic religion, the stalls in which
the underwriters conducted their business and the name and uniform of
the institution's servants, the waiters with brass buttons and red
collar tabs.
Rather it was the tradition of concern that was enshrined here, the
concern for ships and for all men who went down to the sea in those
ships and did their business in great waters.
Perhaps later, Nicholas would find time to take Samantha through the
Nelson rooms and show her the displays of memorabilia associated with
the greatest of Britain's sailors, the plate and letters and awards.
Certainly he would have her as lunch guest in the big dining-room, at
the table set aside specifically for visiting sea captains.
But now there were more important considerations to demand all his
attention. He had come to hear the verdict given on his future - within
a few hours he would know just how high and how fast the wave of his
fortune had carried him.
Come/ he said to Samantha, and led her up the short flight of steps into
the lobby, where there was a waiter alerted to receive them.
We will be using the Committee Room today, sir. The earlier submissions
by both parties had been heard in one of the smaller offices, leading
off the high gallery above the vast floor of the exchange with its rows
of underwriters stalls. However, due to the extraordinary nature of
this action, the Committee of Lloyd's had made a unique decision - to
have their arbitrators give their findings and make their award in
surroundings more in keeping with the importance of the occasion.
They rode up in silence, all of them too tense to make the effort of
small-talk. and the waiter led them down the wide corridor, past the
Chairman's suite of offices and through the double doors into the
grandeur of the room designed by Adam for Bowood House, the country home
of the Marquess of Lansdowne. It had been taken to pieces, panel by
panel, floor, ceiling, fireplace and plaster mouldings, transported to
London and re-erected in its entirety with such care and attention that
when Lord Lansdowne inspected it, he found that the floorboards squeaked
in exactly the same places as they had before.
At the long table, under the massive glittering pyramids of the three
chandeliers, the two arbitrators were already seated. Both of them were
master mariners, selected for their deep knowledge and experience of the
sea, and their faces were toughened and leathery from the effects of sea
and salt water. They talked quietly together, without acknowledging in
any way the rows of quietly attentive faces in the rows of chairs facing
them - until the minute hand of the antique clock on the Adam fireplace
touched its zenith. Then the President of the court looked across at
the waiter who obediently closed the double doors and stood to attention
before them.
This Arbitration Court has been set up under the Committee of Lloyd's
and empowered to receive evidence in the matter between the Christy
Marine Steamship Co. Ltd.
and the Ocean Salvage and Towage Co. Ltd. This Court finds common
