Arthur gently shook his head and said, "This kind of question is too difficult for me; I'll leave it for you to solve. As someone who isn't all that clever, I prefer solving simple and straightforward problems."
Saying this, Arthur took a stack of stock certificates out of his pocket and placed them on the committee's table.
"Gentlemen, have you heard that Parliament recently appointed Mr. Isambard Brunel as Chief Engineer to commence the construction of the Great Western Railway? Actually, it's a bit coincidental, but I happened to purchase some of their company's shares. Here are ten stock certificates of Brunel's Bridge Construction Company; these shares are now trading at 1600 pounds on the London Stock Exchange. You can choose to sell them or hold onto them for dividends."
The committee members exchanged glances and then directed their attention back to Arthur: "What do you mean?"
