"Patience Allerby and myself."
Una arose from her seat with an angry colour in her cheeks.
"You--you Reginald's father--impossible!"
"It's perfectly true," he replied calmly. "Patience Allerby came up to London many years ago with me, and when Reginald was born she left me and came down here, bringing up our son under another name. I, as you know, came to Garsworth some time ago, and saw her again, but she asked me to say nothing, so I obeyed her, but now that I find she has committed a fraud, of which you are the victim, I naturally hasten to put it right."
"Did Mr. Blake know he was not the heir?"
"He did from the first," asserted Beaumont audaciously. "I have no doubt his mother told him his true birth, and knowing the Squire's mania about re-incarnation they made this conspiracy up together in order to defraud you of the property."
"So Mr. Blake has deceived me?" said Una, in an unnaturally quiet tone.
"Yes, he has deceived you all along. I have no doubt he prepared all the forged documents which proved his identity with the supposed son, and counted on your love for him not to prosecute should anything be discovered. I'm glad I have been able to warn you in time. You will never marry him now."
"But the property; do you think he will keep the property?"
"He will try to I've no doubt," said Beaumont gravely, "but if you intrust your case to experienced hands, I have no doubt he will be made to disgorge his plunder."