Analysis.

(Remember: this analysis is particularly true about British language and culture, though mostly it is the same for other English-speaking countries like Australia and the United States.)

Sentence by Sentence analysis.

Magnus Blake: "Hi Ted. How are you feeling? I meant to speak to you earlier, but we've been .. busy, you know. Getting everything back under control in your department? We had a few problems there, recently."
(Magnus' enquiry about how Ted is feeling is followed by other topics without giving Ted a chance to reply. This shows Magnus has asked only to be polite. He mentions being "busy" to suggest that everyone has had to work harder because Ted has been away. This shows that Magnus is not very friendly with Ted.)

Ted Barwell: "Yes, Ivan English and that wretched takeover affair. We lost a lot of money on that one."
(Ted wants to discuss a deal where the company has lost a lot of money. He mentions Ivan English as though everyone knows that Ivan was to blame for this.)

Magnus Blake: "Well, I rather thought that it was that other trader ... Paul, who was mainly responsible."
(This is very unfair, so Magnus disagrees. He uses "I rather thought" to make his disagreement more polite.)

Ted Barwell: "Paul just needs tighter supervision. English though, he's a different matter."
(Ted is now showing that he has a personal problem with Ivan, but not with Paul.)

Magnus Blake: "Oh?"
(This is a neutral comment. It means "I am very interested, but I need to be persuaded that you are right. Keep talking.")

Ted Barwell: "He's arrogant, won't listen to advice ... really, I worry about his attitude. I discussed one of his deals, advised him and he almost told me to my face not to be stupid. Then he did what he wanted anyway."
(Ted suggests that Ivan will not listen to the advice of a more senior man, and did the opposite as a deliberate insult to him. Ted also says that Ivan was very rude.)

Magnus Blake: "Which was?"
(Magnus wants to know the details of the case - what advice was Ted trying to give Ivan.)

Ted Barwell: "Oh, he sold some shares even though I advised him not to. But it's not that case, it's more his general attitude."
(Ted wants to say that the actual advice was not important. He only mentioned this as an example of how rude and arrogant Ivan is.)

Magnus Blake: "So which shares did he sell?"
(Magnus does not listen to Ted's suggestion that the conversation should be about Ivan's attitude. He wants to know the details of what Ivan did. He is interested in finding out why Ted doesn't want to talk about this.)

Ted Barwell: "Some football club. He has a really strange portfolio, did you know? Even a rock group ..."
(Ted makes his reply as general as he can. Then he tries to change the subject again, this time to Ivan's portfolio.)

Magnus Blake: "Football club ...? Rhymington? Rhymington FC. Did he sell before or after last Saturday?"
(Magnus takes the general information that Ted has given, and uses this clue to focus the discussion back on the subject that Ted is trying to avoid.)

Ted Barwell: "I'm not sure ... before. Do you know about Rhymington?"
(Ted doesn't want to answer the question, so he says that he is not sure. Then he realises that he should know this information, so he answers the question. He asks Magnus how much he knows about Rhymington FC to find out how much he can avoid telling the truth.)

Magnus Blake: "Well, if one of our clients has a lot of money in the club; I look at their results. Their million-pound striker broke a leg on Saturday, and shares went down quite sharply. Before that, didn't the shares go up a lot because of the interest rate cut?"
(Magnus shows that he knows a lot about the club. He is thinking about what Ted has told him, and he is beginning to realise that Ted's advice to Ivan was wrong. That's why Ted did not want to give details about the advice he gave.)

Ted Barwell: "Yes, well, that's not really what I wanted to talk to you about, Magnus ..."
(Ted says "Yes" and follows this with "well" so that the "yes" can mean either "Yes, Ivan did sell before the share price dropped" or it can be just a verbal null at the start of the sentence, with no meaning. ("Well" is a real verbal null, and has no meaning here.) This time Ted says directly that he wants to change the subject. He uses Magnus Blake's first name to remind Magnus that they are friends and colleagues, while Ivan is an employee.)

SUMMARY

Ted Barwell returned to work after he was ill for a long time. He tried to show Ivan that he is the boss by telling Ivan not to sell shares in Rhymingtom FC, even though that was not really his business. Ivan told Ted - not very politely - that his advice was wrong, and sold the shares anyway. The share price was high when Ivan sold, because of an interest rate cut, but they went down soon after when Rhymington's best player was injured. Ted wanted to tell Magnus Blake that Ivan is rude and arrogant, because Ivan did not do as Ted told him. Unfortunately for Ted, Magnus wanted to know all the details, and he would not let Ted change the subject. So he found out that Ivan was right and Ted was wrong.