;top speed, which was unlikely.
4
Still the noise within the bank increased. It had become an uproar.
A further problem was that the growing mass of arrivals in the central public area of the bank was preventing access to tellers’ counters by other customers. Edwina could see a few of them outside,
regarding the milling scene with consternation. While she watched, several gave up and walked away.Inside the bank some of the newcomers were engaging tellers in conversation and the tellers,
having nothing else to do because of the melee, chatted back. Two assistant managers had gone to the central floor area and were trying to regulate the flood of people so as to clear some space at counters. They were having small success.
5
She decided it was time for her own intervention.
Edwina left the platform and a railed-off staff area and, with difficulty, made her way through the milling crowd to the main front door.
A. Yet she knew however much they hurried it would still take ten to fifteen minutes to open any single new account. It always did. The paperwork required that time.
B. But still no hostility was evident. Everyone in the now jam-packed bank who was spoken to by members of the staff answered politely and with a smile. It seemed, Edwina thought, as if all who were here had been briefed to be on best behavior.
C. A security guard directed him, "Over there for new accounts." The guard pointed to a desk where a clerk ? a young girl ? sat waiting. She appeared nervous.
The big man walked toward her, smiled reassuringly, and sat do
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