Any discharged servant could do that. I have had enough of you. I am
not a man to be black-mailed. Will you leave the house yourself, or
shall I call the servants to put you out?"

"I should be sorry to trouble you," said Heaton, rising. "That is your
last word, I take it?"

"Absolutely."

"Then good-bye. We shall meet at Philippi."

Allen watched him disappear down the avenue, and it dimly occurred to
him that he had not acted diplomatically.

Heaton went directly to lawyer Grey, and laid the case before him. He
told the lawyer what his modest demands were, and gave instructions
that if, at any time before the suit came off, his cousin would
compromise, an arrangement avoiding publicity should be arrived at.

"Excuse me for saying that looks like weakness," remarked the lawyer.

"I know it does," answered Heaton. "But my case is so strong that I can
afford to have it appear weak."

The lawyer shook his head. He knew how uncertain the law was. But he
soon discovered that no compromise was possible.

The case came to trial, and the verdict was entirely in favour of
Bernard Heaton.

The pallor of death spread over the sallow face of David Allen, as he
realised that he was once again a man without a penny or a foot of
land. He left the court with bowed head, speaking no word to those who
had defended him. Heaton hurried after him, overtaking him on the
pavement.

"I knew this had to be the result," he said to the defeated man. "No
other outcome was possible. I have no desire to cast you penniless into
the street. What you refused to me I shall be glad to offer you. I will
make the annuity a thousand pounds."

Allen, trembling, darted one look of malignant hate at his cousin.

"You successful scoundrel!" he cried. "You and your villainous
confederate Grey. I tell you----"

The blood rushed to his mouth; he fell upon the pavement and died. One
and the same day had robbed him of his land and his life.

Bernard Heaton deeply regretted the tragic issue, but went on with his
researches at the Hall, keeping much to himself. Lawyer Grey, who had
won renown by his conduct of the celebrated case, was almost his only
friend. To him Heaton partially disclosed his hopes, told what he had
learned during those years he had been lost to the world in India, and
claimed that if he succeeded in combining the occultism of the East
with the science of the West, he would make for himself a name of
imperishable renown.

The