but we shall see. You
will be wiser by this time tomorrow."

With that he turned and walked off; Gifford, after watching him for a
while, went back to the summer-house.

"I have put things in the right train there," he remarked with a
confident laugh. "I hope to be able to tell you this evening that Mr.
Henshaw is a thing of the past."

"You are very sanguine," she said, a little doubtfully. "I am afraid you
do not know the man."

"I'm afraid I do," he replied. "He is obviously not an easy person to
deal with. But I think I see my way. Tell me. He has threatened you in
order to induce you to elope with him?"

"Yes. He has found evidence among his brother's correspondence of the
hold he had over me and of his persecution. That would afford a
sufficient motive for my killing him; and how could I prove that I did
not strike the blow?"

"It might be difficult," Gifford answered thoughtfully. "But I may be
able to do it. Of course he knows you to be an heiress."

"I am sure of that from something he once let slip. It has been my
inheritance which has brought all this trouble upon me, at any rate its
persistency."

"Yes. This man must be something of an adventurer, as his brother was. We
shall see," Gifford said with a grim touch. "Now, I must not keep you
any longer. I am so grateful for the confidence you have given me. May I
call later on and tell you the result?"

Her eyes were on him in an almost piteous searching for hope in his
resolute face. "Of course," she responded. "I shall be so terribly
anxious to know."

Chivalrously avoiding any suggestion of tenderness, he shook hands and
went off towards the town.

CHAPTER XXVI

ISSUE JOINED

Punctually at the appointed time Gervase Henshaw was shown into
Gifford's room. Kelson had received from his friend a hint of what was
afoot and had naturally offered his services to back Gifford up, but
they were refused.

"It is very kind of you, Harry," Gifford had said, "and just what one
would have expected from you. But, as you shall hear later, this is not a
business in which you or any one could usefully intervene. In fact it
would be dangerous for me, considering the man I am dealing with, to say
what I have to say before a third person."

So Kelson went off to spend the afternoon at the Tredworths'.

When Henshaw came in his expression bore no indication of the terms on
which he and Gifford had lately parted. The keen face was unruffled and
almo