ned to Mordaunt sharply. "Then, you meant to let me stay in
Canada!"

"I did," said Mordaunt, who addressed Bernard. "I thought it would be
better for Jim and us if he did not know Langrigg was his. I have not
changed my views about it since."

"That has been rather obvious," Bernard remarked and asked Dick: "Why
did you keep the thing dark?"

"I was afraid to meddle; the matter was awkward. Besides, until
recently, I trusted Lance. I thought his antagonism sprang from an
honest prejudice."

"Perhaps it was honest! Are you willing to state the grounds you had
for trying to keep Jim out of the country, Lance?"

"No grounds would justify his robbing Jim of his inheritance," Mrs.
Halliday interposed.

Mordaunt smiled. "I was not scrupulous but imagine my plot is
condemned mainly because it failed. I did not think Jim was the man to
own Langrigg. His education, character, and the life he had led, did
not fit him for the position; it was plain that he would rule Langrigg
like a Canadian industrialist and break all our traditions. Right or
wrong, I took some thought for the honor of the house."

"I am the head of the house and was an industrialist," said Bernard
dryly. "You talk as if you belonged to the old school, but you do not
go far enough back. The men who built Langrigg were plain fighting
farmers." He signed to Dick. "Go on!"

"When Jim's car was upset I suspected Shanks was somehow accountable
for the accident."

"He was accountable," Jim said grimly; "I didn't know you knew this.
But one must be just. Lance lifted the wheel off my body at some risk
to himself."

"That is so," Dick agreed. "I think he took advantage of it
afterwards; I mean he knew we would remember he had saved your life.
It was a generous impulse, but that was all."

"I imagine Lance's character is too complex for your study," Bernard
remarked. "Tell us about his deeds."

"Not long since, I was coming home in the dark when I found Lance
talking to Tom Shanks in the wood. Lance said he had caught the fellow
poaching, and I thought it strange they should talk quietly. I
suspected he wanted me to tell Jim, but I did not. His grudge against
Jim had been getting worse."

"When did you find Lance talking to Shanks?" Bernard asked, and smiled
rather curiously when Dick replied, for he remembered his visit to the
lawyer. Lance had known about the visit.

"Ah," he said, "I begin to see a light! But go on, Dick; I ex