“What do you mean by ‘Ah!’ Dad?”

“Just what you think I mean, Ruthie. Poor old Leconbury is a washout. Of course he sympathised with you, of course he tried to soothe you down. Having got his son and heir married to the daughter of one of the richest men in the States, he naturally doesn’t want to mess the thing up. But he’s got one foot in the grave already, everyone knows that, and anything he may say will cut darned little ice with Derek.”

“Can’t you do anything, Dad?” urged Ruth, after a minute or two.

“I might,” said the millionaire. He waited a second reflectively, and then went on: “There are several things I might do, but there’s only one that will be any real good. How much pluck have you got, Ruthie?”

She stared at him. He nodded back at her.