Ephraim Leadbetter

In the short story The Golden Ball, Ephraim Leadbetter is a partner of the City of London firm "Leadbetter and Gilling". At the beginning of the story, he fires his young nephew George Dundas from the firm because he had taken one too many days off in the middle of the week without seeking permission. Ephraim remonstrates him that he had given George the job out of sympathy for the son of his late sister. But he had thrown the golden ball of opportunity to George and he had failed to grasp it.