"You're admiring my flowers, Bertram," smiled Ronnie. "I had to buy them ready-grown and the gentleman who owns the flat has misgivings as to the wisdom of flower boxes--he thinks they may fall on to somebody's head. Good morning, Steppe, you look happy." Mr. Steppe was looking and feeling quite the reverse. He forced his face into a contortion intended to be a smile. "Good morning, Ronnie. I thought I'd come along and see you about the transfer I sent to you. You forgot to fill it up." "Did I?" Ronnie was genuinely surprised. "I remember I had a letter from you--" He took a heap of papers from a drawer and as he turned them over, Steppe's eyes lit up. "That's it," he said, and offhandedly, "put your name against the seal." Ronnie took up a pen--and paused. "I am transferring a thousand shares in the Klein River Diamond Mining Corporation--at twelve. They are worth more than that surely? I thought I saw them quoted at a hundred and something?" "They were twelve when I sent you the transfer," said Steppe. "Why did you send it? I don't remember expressing a wish to sell." Here Steppe made a fatal mistake. He had but to say, "You agreed to sell," and Ronnie would have signed. There were some incidents in his past life that he could not remember. But the temper of the big man got the better of him. "You're not expected to ask!" he roared, bringing his big fist down on the table with a crash. "You're expected to do as you're told! Get that, Morelle! I sent you the transfer and a cheque--" "This must be the cheque," said Ronnie. He looked at the oblong slip and tore it into four pieces before he dropped the scraps into the waste basket. Steppe was purple with rage, inarticulate. Then the transfer followed the cheque. "Don't let us have a scene," said Dr. Merville nervously. "You must meet Steppe in this, Ronnie." "I'll meet him with pleasure. I have a thousand shares apparently; he wants them--good! He can pay me the market price." "You dog!" howled Steppe, his face thrust across the table until it was within a few inches of Ronnie's, "you damned swindler! You're going straight to the office of the Klein River Company and sign another transfer. D'ye hear?" "How could I not hear," said Ronnie, getting up, "as to signing the transfer, I will do so, on terms--if you are civil." "If I'm civil, huh? If I'm civil! I'll break you, Morelle! I'll break you! There's a little document in my safe that would get you five years. That makes you look foolish!" "Take it out of your safe," said Ronnie coolly, "which I understand the police have. They will be glad to see it opened. I could open it myself if--if I could only remember. I've tried. When I saw a paragraph in the paper about Moropulos, it made me shiver--because I knew I could open the safe. I sat up all one night trying to get the word."