Magnus Blake: "Ah, Ivan, come on in, nice of you to stop by."

Ivan: "Actually, you told me to come."

Magnus Blake: "Erm, yes. It's Ted you understand. He's not happy, not happy at all. So I said I'd have a word with you, see what we can sort out."

Ivan: "Oh, really?"

Magnus Blake: "I'm not going into the rights and wrongs of it, but you do seem to have upset a few people in our share trading department. I'm sure you know that."

Ivan: "I've also doubled the profits. That may have something to do with it."

Magnus Blake: "I'm not sure that I like what I'm hearing. Now, it's this sort of attitude that is causing the problems. You do have to accept, Ivan, that you are a junior trader here, and that you are on probation."

Ivan: "Would you also want me to accept other people stealing my research, or having me lose money because they are wrong?"

Magnus Blake: "As a junior trader, you must understand your position. If you can't do that you should get out. Leave the company."

Ivan: "Ok. "

Magnus Blake: "What? "

Ivan: "I'm leaving. Last week I was taking with Brodingers - the merchant bankers. They're setting me up as an independent trader. As I am only on probation here and I don't have a full time contract, my legal advice is that if the customers on my portfolio want to move over with me, there's no problem."

Magnus Blake: "But you can't … I mean, we need to talk about this decision. There's no need to do anything final just yet."

Ivan: "I can't see anything to discuss, really. You people won't let me be independent, now I can be."

Magnus Blake: "More independence? Well, I am sure we can arrange that. No-one wants people interfering with their work all the time. You should have told me of those problems earlier, my boy. Now what exactly do you need?"