Philip Masters was a millionaire now. 30 ______, everyone in the club was aware that he had built up his own business from scratch after he had left his first job as a kitchen salesman. "Ready-⁠Fit Kitchens" had started in a shed at the end of Philip's garden. Later, he 31 ______ in building a factory on the other side of town that employed more than three hundred people.

Ten years later, the financial press speculated that Philip's business was worth a couple of million. When five more years later the company was taken over by the John Lewis Partnership, Philip got seventeen million pounds. 32 ______ businessmen were as lucky as he was.

Philip was married for more than twenty years. He had fallen in love with Sally at first 33 ______. Now Sally was chairman of the regional branch of the Save the Children Fund. Their son had just won a place at St Anne's College, Oxford. Michael was the boy's godfather.

Michael Gilmour could 34 ______ be a greater contrast. On leaving school, where Philip had been his closest friend, he 35 ______ to find a permanent job. He started out as a trainee with Watneys, but lasted only a few months. Then he started to work as a reporter with a publishing company. He drifted from job to job. 36 ______ Philip, he married his childhood sweetheart, Carol West, the daughter of a local doctor. They had a daughter. Michael seemed to have settled down at last.