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 down. Immediately a press of others moved into a ragged line behind him, waiting for their turn.

D. Even leaning close to the intercom, it was hard to hear above the noise.

E. Even tripling the present complement of clerks would permit very few more than two hundred and fifty accounts to be opened in a day, yet already, in the first few minutes of business, the bank was crammed with at least four hundred people, with still more flooding in, and the line outside, which Edwina rose to check, appeared as long as ever.

F. Obviously someone had alerted the press in advance, which explained the presence of the TV camera crew outside. Edwina wondered who had done it.