My feelings can be better imagined than
described, as I alone was responsible, and I was fully aware of the
gravity of the position. I made a clean breast of the state of affairs
to my Burra Sahib, and he instructed me to go straight over to the
agents and explain matters, and at the same time authorised me to
offer to pay anything they might see fit to impose in the nature of a
fine. I got very little satisfaction or comfort from my interview
with the head of the firm, a Mr. William Anderson whose soubriquet was
Gorgeous Bill, who told me that he could do nothing personally, that
the matter would have to be submitted to the directors at their next
weekly meeting, and that the probabilities were that they would
enforce the rule and cancel the policy. The following few days were a
veritable nightmare to me, as I fully expected they would act as he
intimated they would and as they were fully entitled to do. At last
the fatal day arrived, and I waited in fear and trembling outside the
Board room, whilst the directors deliberated over the affair.
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