our property?" cried Hallam.

"Yes, mine. Mine it should have been by lawful inheritance, save for a
rank injustice and favoritism. Mine it is now, by right of actual
purchase, the purchase of my own! Your mother seems to desire that you
should at last learn the whole truth, and I assure you that I have
advanced more than twice the money required to buy this place, even at
an inflated market value. So, lad, don't get angry or indignant. I make
no statements that I cannot prove, nor can your parents deny that I
notified them to vacate these premises more than two years ago."

"Mother, is that so?"

"Yes, Hallam."

"Why didn't we go, then?"

"Our cousin had a heart and did not force us."

"Why do you now, sir?"

"Because I'm tired of waiting. The case grows worse each day. I'm sick
of throwing good money after bad, while, all the time, such folly as is
yonder goes on," pointing toward the distant studio. "One man is as good
to labor as another. Cuthbert Kaye has had money all his life; _my_
money, of which I was defrauded--"

"Archibald! Beg pardon, but that is not so."

"But it is so, Salome. If you have been hoodwinked and believed false
tales, it is time these youngsters learned the facts. They are Kayes,
like you and me. It is honest blood, mostly, that runs in all our veins.
Well then, the life they are living is not an honest life. No man has a
right to more than he can pay for. Can Cuthbert--"

"Archibald, thee shall leave him out of the question!" cried the wife,
roused from her firm self-control. There was something so appealing in
her tone that her children watched her in alarm.

"Very well. So be it. Since he is not man enough to stand by you in the
trouble he has brought upon you--"

"If thee continues, we will leave the room."

"Why haven't I been able ever to meet him then? Why has he always thrust
you between himself and me? If he thought because you were a woman I
would forever put off the day of judgment, he has for once reckoned
without his host. I tell you the end has come."

Mrs. Kaye sank back in her chair, trembling; but still her lips were
closed until the angry guest had finished his speech and had walked off
some of his excitement in a hasty pacing of the long room. At length he
paused before her and said, more quietly:--

"There is no need of our having recourse to legal force. You should
leave without being put out. That is why I came, to arrange it all to
your satisfaction. Y