"Oh, she had her annuity and was afraid of pressing me too hard. I refused to let her the house on a seven years' lease. She only had it from year to year, and in that way I kept a check on her. She knew if I once lost my temper that I would throw her over and acknowledge you as my heir."
"I wish you had done so," said Brendon, moodily; "it would have saved a lot of trouble."
"I do so now," replied Derrington, testily; "better late than never. Well, Mrs. Jersey lived and flourished for fifteen years. I tried to find you out, George, lest she should get at you----"
"Oh, was that why you offered to make me an allowance?"
"It was. I intended to give you a yearly income on condition that you went to Australia; then I could be sure that Mrs. Jersey would not seek you out. But you refused my offer and disappeared."
"I went to college under the name of Brendon," observed George.
"And that is why Mrs. Jersey never found you, and why I could not come across you until you put those advertisements about the marriage into the papers. It was that which----"
"Yes, so Bawdsey told me. You had me watched."
"I did," said Derrington, "and in that way I found out that you were going to stop in Mrs. Jersey's house."
"How did you learn that, sir?" asked George in surprise. "I never told any one."