"There is but one thing more," said grandpa urbanely. "I am determined that Kate shall be happy. She shall marry Mr. Carrington before the snow flies. It is an excellent policy to keep valuable secrets in the family."
"Give your papers to the attorney-general. I'll see you all hanged before I'll give my consent!" Cavenaugh roared out these words. His patience had truly reached the limit of endurance.
"Softly, softly!" murmured grandpa.
"I mean it!" con agitata.
"Ah, well; what will be, will be. Son, I came down here yesterday with altogether a different piece of business in mind. The documents I discovered last night changed these plans. You own rich oil lands in Texas; or, rather, you did own them before you sold out to the company. The land you sold was not, and never had been, legally yours; you owned not a single tuft of grass. Government land-grab, I believe they call it. It is not now a question of refunding money; it is a question of avoiding prison. The supreme court at Washington can not be purchased. It cost me five hundred, which I could ill afford, to get a copy of the original transfer. The real owner mistook me for you, son; that is how I learned. Your consent to this marriage; or, my word for it, I'll put you where you would have put me, had you dared. Quick! My patience is quite as tense as yours."
The collapse of Cavenaugh was total. He saw the futility of further struggle. Ah! and he had believed all these transgressions securely hidden and forgotten, that the fortress of his millions would protect him from all attack. Too late he realized that he had gone too far with his father. There was no mercy in the old man's eyes, and Cavenaugh knew in his heart that he deserved none.
"Very sensible," said the retired burglar. He folded the check and put it in his wallet, while his son covered his face with his hands. "Murder will out, even among the most pious. I know that what has passed between us will be forgotten by Mr. Carrington. For myself, I shall return to England. I have always had a horror of dying in this country. Like father, like son; the parable reads truly. It was in the blood, Mr. Carrington; it was in the blood. But Henry here went about it in a more genteel manner." He struck the bell. "William, send Miss Kate here."
William bowed. He recognized the change; grandpa's voice was full of confident authority.
Kate entered the study shortly after. She had been weeping; her eyes were red. Seeing her father's bowed head, she sprang to his side like a lioness.
"What have they been doing to you, father?"