She lay awake for a long time. It was two o'clock when she heard his key in the lock. She raised her head, listening to the creaking of the stairs as he came up. He had to pass her room and she whispered: "Good night, Ambrose!" "Good night, Christina." She blew a kiss at the door. V Mr. Steppe, with a gardenia in his buttonhole, leaned out of the window of his car and waved his yellow glove in greeting and Beryl, who was just about to enter her own machine, stepped back upon the sidewalk and waited. She felt a little twinge of impatience, for she was on her way to the Horse Show and Ronald. "Is the doctor in--good! He can wait--where are you off to, Beryl, huh? Looking perfectly lovely too. I often wonder what those old back-veld relations of mine would say if they ever saw a girl like you. Their women are just trek-oxen--mustn't say 'cows,' huh? Are you in a great hurry?" "Not a great hurry," she smiled, "but I think father is expecting you." "I know. But he'll not be worried if I'm late. Drive me somewhere. I want to talk." She jumped at the opportunity of placing a time-limit on the conversation. "Drive to Regents Park, round the inner circle and back to the house," she ordered, and Mr. Steppe handed her into the car. "I want to have a little chat about your father," he said, greatly to her surprise. He had never before spoken more than two consecutive sentences in reference to Dr. Merville. "What I tell you, Beryl, is in confidence," he said. "I'm not sure whether I ought to tell you at all, but you're a sensible girl, huh? No nonsense. That is how a woman should be. The doctor has lost a lot of money--you know that?" "I didn't know," she answered in alarm, "but I thought father confined his investments to your companies?" "Yes--so he has. He has taken up a lot of shares--against my advice. He is carrying--well I wouldn't like to tell you the figure. He bought them--against my advice. Most of my stock is only partly paid up. He is carrying nearly a million shares in one concern or another. That is all right. You can carry millions, always providing there is a market, and that you can sell at a profit, or else that there isn't any need to call up the remainder of the capital. That need has arisen in the case of two companies in which he is heavily involved. Now, Beryl, you are not to say a word about what I have told you." "But--I don't quite follow what you have said. Does it mean that father will be called upon to pay large sums of money?" He nodded. "Or else--?" "There is no 'or else'," said Steppe. "The capital has to be called in, in justice to the shareholders and the doctor must pay. Somebody must pay. In fact, I am going to pay. That was the reason I was calling on him today." "He has been very worried lately," said Beryl in a troubled tone. "I don't know how to thank you, Mr. Steppe. Is it a big sum?"