ord and knit his brows, but dropped heavily into a
chair, and sat with stony face and half-lowered lids. He had scarcely
taken his seat when Howard entered in his quiet fashion, and he went
and stood just behind Stafford.

"I was just telling the meeting, Lord Highcliffe, that I was afraid we
were in a bad way." said Griffenberg. "We all relied so completely on
Sir Stephen--I beg pardon, Lord Highcliffe, your father--that we feel
ourselves helpless now--er--left in the lurch. The company is in great
peril; there has already been heavy loss, and we fear that our property
will be swallowed up--"

"Ask him what Sir Stephen did with all his money!" cried an excited
shareholder.

"Order!" said Mr. Griffenberg. "Lord Highcliffe is not here to answer
questions."

"Then what's he here for?" retorted another man whose loss amounted to
a few hundreds, but who was more excited and venomous than those who
had many thousands at stake. "He's all right. He's a lord--a pretty
lord!--and I'm told the gentleman he's next to is his future
father-in-law, and is rolling in money--"

"Order! order!" called Griffenberg.

But the man declined to be silenced.

"Oh, it's all very well to call 'Order!' But I've a question to ask. I
want to know whether it's true that Sir Stephen--blow 'Lord
Highcliffe,' Sir Stephen's good enough for me!--made over a hundred
thousand pounds to his son, the young gentleman sitting there. Some of
us is ruined by this company, and we don't see why we should be sheared
while Lord Highcliffe gets off with a cool hundred thousand. I ask the
question and I wait for an answer."

Stafford rose, his pale, handsome face looking almost white above his
black frock-coat and black tie.

"Sit down! Don't answer him," said Griffenberg.

"It is quite true," he said. "The money--a hundred thousand pounds--was
given to me. It was given to me when my father"--his voice broke for a
moment--"was in a position to give it, was solvent--"

"I said so, didn't I?" yelled the man who had put the question.

"Order! order!" said Griffenberg.

"And I am informed that the gift was legal, that it cannot be
touched--"

"Of course it can't! Trust Sir Stephen to look after his own!" wailed
the man.

"But I yield it, give it up," said Stafford in the same level voice.

Falconer started from his seat and laid a hand on Stafford's arm.

"Don't be a fool!", he whispered in his thick voice.

But Stafford did not heed him.

"I giv