"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

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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 give it up, relinquish it," he said in the same low, clear tones.

"When my father"--his voice again shook for a moment, but he mastered

his emotion--"made the deed, he thought himself a rich man. If he were

alive to-day"--there was a pause, and the meeting hung on his

words--"he would entirely agree with what I am doing. I give up the

deed of gift, I relinquish it. My lawyers have made me the proper

document, and I now give it to your chairman. It is all I possess; if I

had more, I would give it to you. My father was an honourable man, if

he were here now--"




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