I _hope_ I did nothing to suggest that one can have too much even of percentages and running expenses and allowances for depreciation and the like, but he jumped up suddenly and said: "Well, I mustn't keep you and I mustn't be late for my next job. I hope your brother and Lady Brackenbury are all right? I see Culroyd is married." "They are all very well," I said, as I walked with him to the door. "If I may ask a favour, Lady Ann, don't tell any of them what I'm doing," he begged. Do you know, that was the only jarring note... The first recognition, of course, was a _shock_. "D.S.O. Taxi-driver," don't you know? In some strange way it _grates_... Having _taken_ the plunge, our young friend, I felt, was entitled to the highest credit, and anything like false shame would have been discordant. "They would be the first," I said, "to join me in applauding your resolution and hoping for your success." "But I want it to be a surprise," he said. At that, my heart _sank_. "But why?," I asked. "For Phyllida's sake," he answered. "I've not seen her since that week-end at the Hall, I've not written to her; and she can't write to me, because she doesn't know where I am. I presume she's not engaged, because I've seen no announcement of it, but I don't want to do anything that may stand in her light. If my present scheme fails, I shall have to start on something else; if it succeeds--and when it succeeds--, it will be time enough for me to see what's happened to her. I've never forgotten our talk. If I didn't love a girl, I might cheerfully marry her for her money; but, when I _do_ love her, I couldn't bear to have people even hinting such a thing. You told me that she had four thousand of her own; when I can go to her father and say that I'm making more than that--clear profit to my own pocket--, I shan't be afraid to look any one in the face. But I've not asked her to wait for me; and, if in the meantime she meets any one that she wants to marry more, no one will ever hear me complain." And then he buttoned himself into his coat--even now I couldn't _quite_ get over the disc with the number on it, hanging from a button-hole--, picked up his cap and held out his hand. I walked to the door,--and then my heart seemed to stop. You may remember that the horn of our car has a note which I at least find unmistakable. I heard it in the distance, I heard it coming nearer. Phyllida and Will! It was only twelve, and I had not expected them for hours. Evidently the dance had not been to their liking. I _prayed_ that I might prove equal to the crisis... "Colonel Butler!," I cried. (One never troubled to think whether he should _rightly_ be given his military rank). "Shut that door! Run upstairs to the drawing-room! Hide there till I fetch you, but on no account turn on the light! My niece is coming now; if you want to avoid her..."