"I could easily force you," suggestively.
Grandpa smiled again. "Of that I haven't the least doubt. Of course,
what I have is only a copy?"
"It is the only copy in existence," replied Carrington anxiously. And
then a flush of shame mantled his cheeks. Where was his legal cunning?
"Ah!" The ejaculation came from Cavenaugh junior.
"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?"
"Nothing but what is just," softly answered her parent. The little dukes
and princes faded away as a dream fades.
"Grandpa ..." she began.
"Child, it is all settled. The hatchet is buried in frozen ground. Your
father consents to your marriage with Mr. Carrington. It has been a
heated argument, but he has come around to my way of thinking. 'All's
right with the world,' as Browning says. Bless you, my children, bless
you!" with tender irony.
"And now, my papers," said Carrington, smiling up at the girl
reassuringly.
"And you still wish to marry me?" asked the girl, her face burning and
her eyes moist.
"I'd marry you if your grandpa was Beelzebub himself!"
"Here's your papers, young man," said grandpa. He passed the envelope
across the table.
"What's this?" cried Carrington.
"It means, my boy," said grandpa, "that blood is thicker than water, and
that I really intended no harm to Henry. And then, besides, I like to
win when all the odds are against me."
Carrington gently turned the envelope upside down. Nothing but burnt
paper fluttered upon the table.