He's a fine young man and he is bound to be a howling success in everything he undertakes." He smiled reminiscently.

"I rather thought there was something between you two," he went on, still patting her shoulder, "and when Dan Westlake told me that his girl thought a great deal of Sam and that he was going to buy enough stock in Sam's company to give Sam control, I turned right around and bought just as much stock as Westlake had, although just before the meeting I had refused to invest as much money as Sam wanted me to.

Moreover, Westlake and myself, between us, stopped the move to pool the outside stock, just yet.

He's a smart young man, that boy," he continued admiringly.

"I didn't see, until I went into that meeting, why he was so crazy to have me buy enough stock to gain control-- What's the matter ?" He stopped in perplexity, for his daughter, looking aghast at him, had pushed back from his embrace and was regarding him with perfectly round eyes, while over her face, at first pale, there gradually crept a crimson flush.
"Well, of all things!" she gasped.