Brass for the Broker

Mason and Sir Edward play a game of bridge, revealing Edward's confidence and past as a dock laborer and trade union chairman. In a grim area of London, a girl named Winnie seeks help for her father, Bert Leighton, who has been denied sick pay after an accident at work. She encounters Henry Glutt, the union secretary, who is dismissive and hints at a corrupt union system. Winnie, determined to get justice, learns that her father had given his benefit contract to an unknown man from the union but received no receipt. Her father’s health deteriorates without support, leading her to seek help from Marmont Duke Bray, who investigates the union's practices. Meanwhile, Glutt and his cohorts plot against Bert to silence him, warning him to drop claims of negligence. Confronted by Bray, Glutt reveals that the wharf is not insured, which signals trouble ahead for him. The story culminates with the shocking news of Carpenter's suicide after being implicated in the scandal of an uninsured wharf he owned.